One Thing After Another
by DaydreamingDuma
Summary: A Cybertronian Civil War is difficult enough without the added complication of Quintessons heading their way. Also, Bumblebee keeps adopting humans, the Seekers are all sick, no-one can get a hold of Grimlock, Shockwave isn't doing his darn job... Everything can and will go wrong for Optimus and Megatron.
1. The Very First Chapter Of The Story

**Writer's Note - Complete AU. Does not feature in any of the current Transformers Continuities. Slightly 'Cyberverse'-ish in that the characters of the story will take the form of my own character designs (which you are unable to see until I start an Instagram art page).  
Due to the light-hearted ******nature of the story, some of the characters will be slightly OOC but only for comedic purposes. Don't worry, Optimus Prime is still Peter Cullen's John Wayne and Megatron is still Frank Welker's... well, Megatron.********

* * *

 _PROLOGUE BIT_

 _"Oh goodie!" A pale blue Nurse clapped her hands. "Looks like we've got ourselves a nice little batch of sparks here."_

 _Her colleague, a mint green Nurse, studied the cold-sparks with a critical optic._

 _"Eh," he shrugged, "Small and twinkly. Just like every other spark that falls our way."_

 _" _They're like little stars."__

 _ _"Sure. Sure. Stars."__

 _ _With all the care that a Well-Nurse working in the Well Nurseries was built for, he brought over three ready and waiting protoforms. The sparks, which had been sparked by Primus a while back and kept frozen (hence the term Cold-Spark), were to be Seeker sparks and so the protoforms that they were now being fitted into would eventually grow wings. No other spark other than Seeker sparks triggered wing growth.__

 _ _"Grow well," the first Well-Nurse said, carefully taking the three sparked protoforms - Sparklings-to-be - back over toward the pit in the very centre of the huge Well Nursery where all protoforms were granted sparks.__

 _ _Or, in the case of the Seekers, where sparks already granted life by Primus via the AllSpark or by the Matrix were given protoforms.__

 _ _The pit in the middle was still connected to the AllSpark, hidden deep within the core of Cybertron where Primus dwelt.__

 _ _"Right, how many Seekerlings is that?"__

 _ _"Uh... One, two, three... Another three... Three... Why do these things come in bloomin' threes?"__

 _ _" _ _Seeker tradition. I looked it up."____

 _ _ _ _"What, is 3 some sacred number or something for them?"____

 _ _ _ _" _ _ _ _Actually yes."________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...Oh."________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _All in all, there were about 20 new Seeker Sparklings lying on the table, nestled in their Cyber-matter pods, beginning to grow above the Pit leading to the AllSpark.________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"We keepin' 'em or are they goin' back t' Vos?" asked another Well-Nurse, a grey and yellow one.________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"Back to Vos," replied the pale blue Well-Nurse, "Tradition. All Seeker Sparklings hatch at Vos - highest place on Cybertron."________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"Highest place to fall too," grumbled the mint green Well-Nurse, "Little kiddie rolls over during recharge... wheeee splat!"________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"Don't be morbid. That doesn't happen."________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"Hey, there's a first time for everything."________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"EVACUATE!" a soldier suddenly appeared in the Nursery, optics wide with panic, "We're being attacked by Quintessons! They're coming for the Nurseries!"________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The Well-Nurses looked at one another.________________

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"Like I said," the mint-green one coughed with a smile, "First time for everything."________________

* * *

When you took a step back, it was hard to see which of the two factions were the more dominant.

Was it the mighty Decepticons, all kept together within Megatron's immense fortress community where the Nemesis took pride of place on top of the tallest tower?

Or was it the heroic Autobots who had divided their might into many many camps scattered around the globe where they could keep an eye on things better than their enemy could?

The same number of warriors all in one place? Or spread out?

There were probably advantages and disadvantages for both, one supposed.

Megatron needed no effort in summoning his army if they were attacked (deciding word being **'if'** seeing as no-one on the planet was stupid enough to throw rocks at the Decepticon fortress while the Decepticons were actually home!).

On the other hand, the Autobots were all in frequent contact with one another and had their warriors placed everywhere so a Decepticon couldn't exactly throw a spanner on the planet without hitting one. Nor could they clear their extractor fans without an Autobot relaying the information back to their leader.

Optimus had kept the separate Autobot teams very small and it was strange to have the Ark, which was able to house all the Autobots, now housing only five - Optimus' little family of bots:

Ratchet, the grumpy 'Grandad', Bumblebee, the energetic 'Son', and Jazz and Ironhide, the fun 'Uncles'.

* * *

Ironhide tapped his finger and turned a page in his book as Ratchet stormed by for the third time back the way he came, listening to the irate medic shouting down the corridors.

"You better get your sorry yellow backside out here RIGHT now! You hear me? Where in the Pits...? I'm not fooling around here, Bumblebee! Primus, I'm not even old enough to say I'm too old for this."

 _Stomp stomp_ , went Ratchet's feet as he passed by again.

Ironhide sighed and just could not focus on the words so he admitted defeat and set the book back down on the table in front of him, watching his doctor march unproductive lengths of the two corridors and the Lounge Room where Ironhide was currently sat.

"Need a hand, Ratchet?" he offered, just so the medic could stop grooving a trench in the floor of the Ark.

"Spare me the pity, Ironhide," Ratchet grumbled as he walked back the fifth time, "I can handle one youngster on my own, thank you. We're just cursed to have been saddled with him while he happens to be still growing."

Ironhide was about to protest that he hadn't been questioning Ratchet's child-wrangling abilities but Jazz, the Autobot First Lieutenant, had appeared on the scene and had overheard the conversation.

"Who else was gonna take him in?" he asked, "Nurseries are all empty back on Cybertron, man. Without the AllSpark and all the fighting upsetting Primus, He ain't granting no more sparks."

"No-one asked for a lesson on recent history," Ironhide chuckled as Jazz was moved aside to make way for a still searching Ratchet.

"Jus' saying that OP weren't the bot to sit on his exhaust and let someone else take care of the last sparklings. Guess the big guy felt bad."

"If he feels so bad, he can help me look for the blasted kid," Ratchet huffed, "He's taken something from the Medi Bay again. Prime!"

From down the first corridor came an answering voice.

"That you calling, Ratchet?" the voice of Optimus Prime asked.

"Calling? No, just had the urge to yell your name out. Yes, I was calling. Have you seen Bumblebee?"

Optimus appeared in the doorway, blue eyes blinking at Ratchet innocently.

"Recently?" he asked.

"Well, ideally, yes."

"Sorry, Ratchet, I can't say that I have. I saw him this morning and that was it."

"Well he's taken the organic seed samples from Medi Bay. I want them back."

"Uh-huh, okay." Then when Optimus realised that Ratchet was giving him an expectant look, "Oh, you want me to find Bumblebee and get them back for you?"

" _You're_ the one who felt bad and took him in," Ratchet scolded, disappearing down the corridor for good this time, "He's _your_ scout, _your_ responsibility. I'm getting a drink."

Optimus rubbed the back of his helm and turned to his two friends helplessly.

"Organic seed samples?" Jazz repeated tilting his head inquisitively, "Why does Ratchet have those?"

"Something to do with Earth Flora Research or something," Ironhide replied, waving his hand. "Point is, why do _you_ need them, kid?"

He looked down at his side where Bumblebee had been sitting quietly next to him the entire time, slurping energon from his energon sippy cup. The little yellow Autobot avoided eye contact and shrugged.

"Wanted to try growing plants, is all," he said, fiddling with his digits, "They looked cool."

"Well, Prime. There's your bot," Ironhide sighed, picking up his book, " _Your_ responsibility, Doctor said."

Optimus gave a long sigh.

His responsibility? He guessed that was true.

After all, he _was_ the one who had gone down to the nurseries to see just how few protoforms had been sparked.

And, he _had_ been the one to take an interest in the tiny yellow one and... yes, he _might_ have asked to hold the newborn sparkling and, consequently, _may_ have been the one to fall hook, line and sinker.

So, yes, Optimus _was_ the fearless Autobot leader who had timidly asked the caretakers if he could have the youngster as his own.

Optimus Prime _had_ been the one to toddle back to his army of brave, battle-hardened Autobot soldiers and guiltily present them with the newest addition to the family with the single line, 'Well, we did need a Scout...'

Trying to look as authoritive as possible, Optimus put his fists on his hips and raised a stern eye at his charge.

"Bumblebee, can you please return the seeds to Ratchet? He needs them and you know you shouldn't have taken them without permission." Bumblebee licked a few drops of energon from his digits and let his doorwings droop.

"Didn't know he _needed_ them," he murmured, "Can I keep, like, a few?" He shot Optimus the innocent 'big round optics' look which the leader of the Autobots found impossibly hard to resist.

"Better check with him first," he replied. Bumblebee hopped down off his seat and slumped his shoulders dramatically, hanging his head as he slowly walked off.

"Aw scrap..." he muttered to himself which, unfortunately, Optimus heard.

"Language!" he scolded as Bumblebee shuffled off after Ratchet and he turned to Jazz and Ironhide accusingly, "Right, which of you has he learnt that from?"

"Jazz," Ironhide replied without missing a beat, lifting his book a little higher.

"Lies," Jazz instantly retorted, "He overheard that little one from Ironhide."

"Well I better not hear him say anything worse than that," Optimus warned them before he turned and followed after Bumblebee to make sure the youngster wasn't trying to pull a fast one.

After he had gone, Ironhide gave Jazz an incredibly unimpressed look. "Yeah, sure, pin it on me, why don't you?"

"I might be the smoother talker, Ironhide, but I ain't got a spark to your library of words," Jazz smirked.

"So what? I'm good at insulting Decepticons."


	2. The Second Chapter Comes Next

**_An Instagram account is nearly ready for character designs to be seen. - Duma_**

* * *

Witholding the urge to call ' _Wheeeeee!_ ', Skywarp managed his seventeenth spin on the spinny chair and watched his comrades whizz past his vision in a rainbow hue of colour.

"What's that noise? What is that?" a mournful voice spoke from across the room, somewhere in among the colourful blur that Skywarp was seeing.

Thundercracker, standing to the side of a berth, cocked an eyebrow at the black and purple jet spinning around. "It's Skywarp being a childish idiot again," he replied and then took in the pitiful scene in front of him.

Lounging on the berth, one elegant leg hanging off the side and the other thrown over an arm rest, looking like an absolute queen, Starscream had one arm draped over his face while his other hung off the side and was being tended to by another Seeker.

"I'm so jumpy," the Alpha Seeker moaned, "My poor nerves. I don't know how long I can go on."

At the other end of the berth stood Thrust, leaning against the wall. "You don't think you're overmilking this a little?" he asked.

"How dare you?" Starscream hissed, glaring at him under his arm, "How dare- Have you ANY idea on what I've been through? Are you or are you not aware of what I've had to endure?"

"Believe me, Starscream, we know."

"I've taken a fusion canon to the spark! You'll forgive me for wanting to battle death, won't you?"

"Megatron shot you a whole earth week ago and we've nearly fixed you. Stop being dramatic," Ramjet scoffed, flicking through his 'Military Jets Magazine' casually from his seat on the sofa.

Starscream twisted his face into a pained expression and threw back his helm against the berth. "None of you understand my curse," he wailed.

When the Seekers had been sparked, a terrible attack had occurred on the Nursery Well which had 'spooked' the AllSpark, for want of a better word.

Some of the new-born Seeker Sparklings, I am sorry to say, hadn't made it but the rest of that generation that had survived had come away with curious mutations and, of them all, Starscream's mutation was the most astonishing for he had thus been born with an indestructible, immortal spark which could not, _would_ not, be extinguished.

"Primus help us," Ramjet whimpered, burying himself into the magazine. They then all felt a warm, uncomfortable presence as a golden Seeker stepped in front of them all.

"Now, now, brothers," he chastised with a smile and a soft voice, holding his hands together, "Spare our poor Commander a little sympathy. He bears _such_ a heavy load." His 'gentle' words did not seem wanted by any of them, least of all Starscream.

"Get away from me Sunstorm," he groaned as the radioactive flier knelt down at his feet, "When did you last take a flight?"

"This morning," Sunstorm replied smoothly, keeping his soft red optics fixed on his leader's uncomfortable face.

"Take another, why don't you?" Starscream then glanced to his other hand which was in the care of the Seeker, Hotlink. "Are you finished yet?" he asked.

Hotlink was manicuring Starscream's talons and, with a final brush of the file, he straightened up and nodded. Starscream pulled back his right hand and, after briefly inspecting his sharp claws, placed them carefully over his cockpit.

"Why is life so trying?" he sighed, lifting his left arm from his face and hoisting himself up into a sitting position. He was currently in his own quarters which, being the quarters of the First Lieutenant, meant that the room was very large and was able to accommodate up to sixteen other Seekers who were all standing or sitting around, attending to their 'injured' leader.

Thundercracker was stood at Starscream's right hand side, trying to perch his backside on the head of the berth, Skywarp was still spinning around in Starscream's chair like a wretched child and was trying to hit Red Wing with his legs, Red Wing was sitting patiently while Nacelle was 'grooming' his wings, Dirge was browsing Starscream's shelves for something to read and eventually settled for 'The Life Cycle of the Amazonian Swallow' before sitting on the long sofa lounge next to Ramjet, still reading his magazine, Thrust was still leaning against the wall and was counting the squares on the ceiling, Acid Storm and Nova Storm were in the corner playing a game of 'Go Fish' while Ion Storm was trying to stack a pile of Hotlink's screwdrivers, Hotlink was still sat on the floor from having recently tended to Starscream's sharp fingers and Wheezing Arrow, the runt of the flock, was sitting quietly on the far side of the room, trying not to draw attention to himself.

"You want me to go get you some energon?" Skywarp offered, spinning one last time in the chair.

Starscream waved a claw at him. "No, don't bother," he groaned and then swept the room. "Where is Slipstream?" he asked, "She's been gone too long. Where is-? Oh, there you are."

A second after he had said that, Slipstream walked in with a sour expression on her face. She threw the component she was carrying to Hotlink.

"Here," she huffed, placing her hands on her hips, "Now you can finally stop acting like a war hero and get up off your lazy thrusters." Nacelle moved away from Red Wing to help Hotlink in repairing the final part in Starscream's systems and their leader could not have looked more pleased.

"You're too kind, Slipstream," he said knowing full well that the Seeker femme would be glaring at him. Just as Starscream was demurely getting to his feet once he was completely repaired, his doors _tinged_ to signify an entrance and in came Sunstorm again.

Once getting his leader's attention, he lowered his wings as he respectfully bowed. "Deepest apologies, Starscream but I have grave news," he began.

"Now what?" Starscream rolled his eyes and batted away Thundercracker who had offered an assisting servo. Before Sunstorm could deliver his report, Thrust suddenly gave a cackle.

"Megatron is healthier than ever and looks to keep his Decepticon throne for another few million years!" he announced with glee, finding great delight in Starscream's thunderous glare directed at him.

"Spit it out, Sunstorm," the Head Seeker hissed, trying to ignore Thrust's little joke.

Sunstorm gave Thrust a brief look of amusement before announcing the news, "All aerial activity has been frozen temporarily."

For a second, there was silence.

Then all hell broke loose as every Seeker jumped to their feet, flustering and shouting, each one having something to say and letting their wings flutter in agitation as they did so.

"What!?" Skywarp screeched.

"That's ridiculous!" Ramjet fumed, "We're not allowed to fly?"

"What are we expected to do all day?" Hotlink cried.

"Are you _sure_ you've got it right, Sunstorm?" Red Wing asked desperately.

"I'm afraid so," Sunstorm had answered, "Megatron spoke to me directly on my way to go and 'take a flight' as Starscream suggested I do."

"Did you get a reason why we're not allowed to fly?" asked Thrust to which Sunstorm shook his head.

"Well that's just great!" Skywarp came in with another comment, "What's going to happen to us? Scream? You'll do your thing, right? Take one for the team and get all up in Megatron's face, eh?"

"Demand that we be allowed to fly!" Nova Storm agreed.

"Does... Does Megatron know that we need to fly?" whimpered Arrow.

Skywarp was getting twitchy by Starscream's lack of response. "Starscream!"

"Yes, Starscream," Dirge drawled, "you'll do something about this won't you?"

"Something better be done! We have rights!" shouted Acid Storm.

"Yeah!" Bitstream nodded and lifted his fist, "And if we can't have access to basic flight then every land-crawling Decepticon on this ship is going to be feeling it, I swear!"

"Now just calm it down for a moment..." Thundercracker tried to say with an uncomfortable tone of voice.

"Calm it down?" Slipstream snapped, "You ARE aware of what a lack of flight does to a Seeker don't you?"

"A pity that the Nemesis hasn't the facilities to allow safe flying practice," Nacelle lamented.

"Of course not!" Ion Storm grumbled, "No-one bothered to think that Trypticon might need to transport Seekers when he was rewired into the Nemesis."

"Oh for the love of Primus, BE QUIET!" Starscream suddenly, well, screamed.

True to his name, a scream from Starscream was his primary form of communication for it could either totally silence his Seekers or it could trigger an instinctual need for them to congregate to him for whatever reason. Once silence had been achieved, Starscream attempted to put on a calm demeanour.

"I'm trying to process my thoughts," he said softly. A soft voice from Starscream never boded well. "Right," he decided, lifting his chest and extending his magnificent wings to a lofty 'I'm the alpha Seeker and you all know it' position, "Everyone out of my way! I'll be back momentarily."

* * *

Strutting down the corridors and sending nervous Decepticon troopers running off in all directions, Starscream made his way to the Nemesis bridge and stepped through the doors with all the grace of an atristocratic debutante.

"My lord?" he called cautiously and, upon catching sight of the intimidating warlord who, a week ago, had shot a hole through his chest, composed himself and approached, "Ah, my lord! Might I trouble you for a moment of your time?"

Megatron, the ex-gladiator, peered through his red optics at his Second-in-Command. "What is it Starscream?" he snarled, almost anticipating one of Starscream's claws to come whizzing through the air towards his throat, "I see you've recovered from your injuries. Back for another bout?"

"Lord Megatron," Starscream smiled sickly and bowed with a sweep of his arm, "Sunstorm has just come to me with some troubling news."

"He isn't going to sacrifice you to Primus, is he?" Megatron smiled and then threw back his head and laughed loudly into the air, "I've already prebooked a ticket for that."

"Uh... No, my lord," Starscream 'coughed', "It's about a supposed freeze on all aerial-"

"Ah yes." Megatron wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Tell your Seekers that there will be no flights outside the Nemesis. You have the Autobots to thank for that; they've increased their atmospheric surveillance and if you're seen coming to and fro from the Nemesis, they'll discover the entrances to our base."

Although the fortress was something of an eyesore and absolutely impossible to miss even for the visually impaired, the Decepticons had been able to keep the location of their 'front door' a secret from the Autobots.

Starscream's eye twitched and he opened and shut his mouth in confusion. "But... But my lord," he stammered, "we have an entire Decepticon battalion under our -er- _your_ command in ou- YOUR fortress. The Autobots are scattered in meagre handfuls around the world."

"It does NOT mean that they are unable to throw a decent army together from the remote corners of this wretched planet," Megatron replied, a cross look now appearing on his face, "Prime has been known to produce warriors out of nothing." He shook his head. "You mark my words, Starscream - flutter just one wing out there and you'll have Prime, his Autobots, Dinobots, a few Predacons, the entire Iacon Academy, Velocitronians, Junkions, humans, the 13 Original Primes and probably Unicron Himself descending on you."

"Erm... I presume then, we would be allowed to access the flight training facilities in the fortress below us?"

"Air Command stays in the air, Starscream. Clue in the name. You and your Seekers belong in the Nemesis, in the sky, with me, at the very top. We took a vote at the Officer's meeting."

Starscream frowned. "I do not recall a vote being taken at the last meeting," he mumbled.

"No, this was a vote taken at an Officer's meeting centuries ago back on Cybertron," Megatron told him, turning his attention back to his busy bridge workers around him.

Starscream twirled a thumb digit around his forefinger digit and his wings flicked. "...So how do we fly?"

"Well... you don't. I would have thought that was simple."

"...So how do we keep from going mad?"

"Don't know," Megatron shrugged, "Take up a new hobby or something. You'll figure it out."

"When?" Starscream snapped angrily, "Now? Or after our processors fry up?"

"You can stow that tone of voice, Starscream," Megatron growled at him, "It won't be long before it's safe outside again and anyway, Shockwave's decorating a new room for your Seekers to fly in. Be sure to write him a 'thank you' card, won't you?"

Pouting as much as a metal robot could, Starscream turned on his thruster heel and left the bridge in a perfect sulk, muttering as he went.

* * *

Leaning on his arm, Optimus half-heartedly clicked through his most recent reports from the base camps of the other Autobot teams.

"Perceptor... No news," he sighed, "Prowl... No news. Silverbolt... No news. Grimlock... ' _Ate a moped. Tasted gross._ ' ... Hot Rod... No news. Wheeljack... No news."

"Whatcha doing, Sir?" Peeking over the edge of the desk was Bumblebee's face.

"Just checking in with the teams to see if they have any updates for me," Optimus replied with a fond smile. It wouldn't be long before Bumblebee was bigger and more grown up but, deep down, the Prime liked to think he'd stay cute.

"And do they?" his scout asked.

"Only that Grimlock ate a moped. The Decepticons seem to be keeping low profiles at the moment."

"So are you bored?"

"No, there's always something to do, Bumblebee. Like right now, what are you doing?"

Bumblebee took a step back and, after a moment of thought, straightened his back and looked important. "...Um... I am, er, awaiting orders, Optimus Prime, Sir!" he said in a 'tough' 'grown-up' voice.

Optimus smirked. "So you're not doing anything."

"I'm awaiting orders, Sir."

"For what?"

Bumblebee's thinking face was a rather comical one. "...Truth be told, Sir," he answered, "I don't have an answer to that."

"Go on, you young scamp," Optimus laughed as he turned back to Teletraan-1, "Go play or something."

"With what?"

"Nothing belonging to Ratchet."

"Can you give me a mission?"

"What?" Optimus lifted an eyebrow as he gazed down at Bumblebee, "Give you-? What do you mean?"

"A mission," Bumblebee repeated, his doorwings rising excitedly, "Can I be sent on a mission?"

"To do what, exactly?"

"To scout."

"Scout what?"

The same comical face reappeared on the smaller bot's face. "...Truth be told, Sir, I don't have an answer to that either. But _please_ can I have a mission?" The yellow scout was getting dangerously close to the 'big round innocent blue optic' face that Optimus loved and hated at the same time.

"Bumblebee," he said, "that's not how missions work. You need an objective."

"I think there's been Decepticon activity down by the lake, Sir," Bumblebee immediately replied, smiling at the swiftness of his answer.

"That so?" Optimus hummed, "And what makes you think that?"

"Scout intuition, Sir."

"Do you know what intuition means?"

"No Sir, but Ironhide tells me to use it a lot when I'm training so I'm going to use it now. Permission to use Scout Intuition and investigate Decepticon activity, Optimus Prime, Sir."

Optimus sighed. Bumblebee just wanted to go for a drive.

Bots his age had boundless energy but there were not many his age to spend that energy with. In fact, aboard the Ark there was _no-one_ his age.

"Go on then," he murmured, "But you know the rules!"

"'Keep a low profile'," Bumblebee read off an imaginary list, "'Look after the environment. No explosions. Don't go near Decepticons. Be back in 1 hour.'"

"And Bumblebee?" Optimus voice stopped the little scout before he could dart out of the command centre. "Don't even _think_ about bringing home any more humans. You leave them alone, understand?"

Bumblebee faltered on one leg and peered over his shoulder cheekily. "What if I see a really cute one?" he asked.

"You've already adopted three of the poor things!" Optimus said with a shake of his head, "That's three too many in Ratchet's opinion."

"But I look after them real good!"

"It doesn't matter. Earth is their planet and you really ought to leave them where you find them."

"What if one follows me back? Can I keep it then?"

"No, Bumblebee," Optimus Prime said in a stern tone of voice, "No more humans."

"Aw scr-... Um... Okay."

* * *

With a triumphant flash of his visor, Jazz secured the highest place score and thus the scoreboard on the Autobot's favourite game now went as followed:

 **JZZ -574**  
 **BEE - 571**  
 **BEE -569**  
 **JZZ - 520**  
 **BEE - 518**  
 **JZZ - 505**  
 **INH - 472**  
 **BEE - 469**  
 **JZZ - 423**  
 **BEE - 417**

It was a slight victory by a mere 3 points but it was a victory nonetheless, even if that victory was over a bot a couple million years younger than him.

Upon hearing the tell-tale patter of little pedes, Jazz decided he'd leave the scoreboard and not say anything to Bumblebee about his accomplishment just yet. It wouldn't be long before the little yellow spark discovered his knock from 1st place and consequently his drive to regain his place at top of the leader board and then it would only be a matter of time before Ironhide's lone score of 472 was dropped off altogether.

"Yo, Bee," Jazz called over his shoulder as he heard him come in, "How'd that Con activity go, eh?"

Bumblebee had scampered all the way across the room towards his room before being forced to stop and make conversation. "Oh..." he replied, somewhat distractedly, "No Decepticons."

"Uh-huh," Jazz chuckled, not having to look to see where the kid was for he could hear his hurried steps well enough, "Lemme guess - you wanted to go stretch your wheels for a bit, right? You know, kid, you could'a just asked OP that in the first place."

"Mm-hmm. Sorry, Jazz," Bumblebee mumbled quietly, not really paying attention.

"Why ya apologising, kid? Go on and have fun," Jazz smiled before a sudden thought came to him and he called back to Bumblebee again with a note of suspicion in his voice, "...You didn't bring home a human, did you?"

"Huh?" Bumblebee squeaked nervously, only a step away from making a bolt for his room.

"I said," Jazz repeated calmly, not looking at the bot, "you didn't bring home any humans, did ya?"

There was a rather unnecessarily long pause.

Bumblebee shuffled from foot to foot. "...Optimus didn't _order_ me not to."

Jazz groaned into his hands and finally turned around to eye the little Autobot closely. He was stood with his chubby legs close together, his hands folded protectively over his chest under his chin and his miniature doorwings drooping low in submission.

"...Bee, you've got three," Jazz told him, repeating the same thing that he and other Autobots had to continually remind him of, "Take it back."

"But Jaaaaazz, I can't!" Bumblebee whined, hurrying forward and stretching out his hands, "Look! Look at him! He's so small!"

In Bumblebee's palms was an absolutely _tiny_ human boy.

Jazz reasoned it had to be very young judging by the human's shorter limbs in comparison with its torso and his large eyes - which wore glasses. The boy had thick brown hair and a round face, tanned skin and a light smattering of freckles on its nose; a very handsome specimen in the eyes of biological science.

But Jazz wasn't exactly the top Autobot scientist around and all he saw was a fleshling no larger than Bumblebee's hand staring up at him, unblinking, gripping Bumblebee's fingers desperately. He did look to be a sweet little thing but judging by his clothes and shoes, he wasn't faring badly in life.

"Humans are incredibly resilient, Bee, he'll be just fine back where he belongs in the wild. Now take it back."

"But he's so cute!" Bumblebee pulled the human close to him and petted him on the head. The human looked up at him in confusion, not pulling away but refusing to let go of his captor's finger.

"You can't bring home everything that happens to be cute, Bee," Jazz told him and immediately thought back to Optimus who had done just that too once upon a time. The living proof of that was stood in front of him, following in the Prime's footsteps.

"I'll look after him like I look after the others," Bumblebee promised, widening his optics to impossibly large sizes, "Please! Please don't tell on me! I called him Rafael. Isn't he cute?"

"He's adorable. And absolutely terrified. Where'd you get him?"

"Found him by the lake. I saved him!"

"You'll do him a favour if you take him back."

"But Jaaaaazz..." Bumblebee whined again and, at that point, Jazz caved in.

"Oh whatever, fine!" he relented, not wishing to argue with Optimus' kid anymore, "Pretend I never saw him and don't go telling the others, y'hear? Or I'll smack yer pedes."

"Thanks Jazz, you're the best!" Bumblebee beamed, cradling his new human and skipping away.

"Sure am," Jazz agreed and stared a new game on the computer.


	3. The Third Chapter After The Second One

**Writer's Note - After careful review, I've altered the story's name. Hope that's okay. As a side note, character designs will be soon appearing on my brand spanking new Instagram page ( duma . drawings ).**

* * *

Staring down at his high-heeled feet, Skywarp was putting a considerable amount of effort and concentration when it came to traversing one end of the corridor to the other.

"I don't need to fly," he was telling himself in a quiet voice, "I don't _need_ to fly. Look at me, not flying. See? I can do this. I don't need to fly. Bet no other Decepticon can _walk_ as good as I can. One foot in front of the other. Easy peasy squeeze the lemon. Getting by without flying isn't so hard."

 _Transform!_ Screamed his internal thoughts. _For the love of Nexus Prime, transform! Feel that moving air over your wing flaps!_

"Hey Skywarp!" A small minicon hailed him from behind. It was Rumble and at his side was his twin, Frenzy. "Was wondering when we'd bump into any of your lot. How're you holding up, eh?" He laughed and nudged his cassette-mate knowingly.

"Yeah!" Frenzy laughed along, "Must be difficult all this walking about. Makes you realise how lazy you get."

Of all the minicons that ever cruised through the Decepticon forces, Soundwave's two henchbots were Skywarp's _least_ favourite.

"Stash it where the light don't get to, brats!" he warned, "Mind your own fraggin' business."

"Woooh, hear that kinda talk, Rumble?" Frenzy whistled, "It must be getting to his head already!"

As Skywarp spread his legs, there was a tell-tale thrum of a gun being warmed up in that narrow corridor. "I don't need wings to kick you two tin cans up and down this ship," he threatened, his voice sinking weirdly low in pitch.

Whether they picked up on the unusual ring in Skywarp's voice or whether it was perhaps some other function in their heads that brought up a few warning alerts on their HUDs, an outside narrator couldn't tell you.

But Rumble did drop the snarky attitude a smidge. Only a smidge though. It wasn't enough so that you could actually tell.

"Aw, now Skywarp, we're jus' worried about you, right Frenzy?" he smiled, "We know how much you _luuuuurrve_ flying."

"We can only imagine how you must be feeling, the poor birdies."

"Bet you're just itching to transform and fly, ain't you?" A delighted gleam shimmered through Rumble's optics as he translated Skywarp's body language. "Oh yeah, he is! Look at him, Frenzy! Look at those wings twitching!"

Sure enough, Skywarp, like all his Seeker brethren, could not always prevent their wings from displaying emotion and, right now, they were every so slightly trembling like they had a mind of their own. With a stamp of his foot, Skywarp whipped out a gun and fired a warning shot at his tormentor's feet which sent them scurrying in a panic back the way they had come leaving only minicon-shaped dust clouds behind.

"You better run, you slag-spawn lumps of pit-bound scrap!" Skywarp foul-mouthedly shouted after them which made him feel a lot better.

* * *

The two of them didn't stop running until sliding to an ungainly halt in the doorway of Soundwave's quarters.

"Ooo-wee," Frenzy huffed, worn out from his sprint, "Skywarp was WAY more aggressive than he usually is."

"Pity he didn't get caught," Rumble said, checking himself for damage, "Would'a loved to see him get into more trouble."

Their immediate Commander/Master/Father/Babysitter/Taxi, Soundwave was sat at his desk giving Ravage a clean and had watched, unimpressed, as his two minicons had made their ridiculous entrance. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were perched on their stand pecking at each other but, at the sound of something interesting, turned to face the scene with a twitter and a chirp.

"Rumble, Frenzy, report: What were you doing?" Soundwave asked, monotonic voice sounding void of patience.

"Ah," Rumble explained, "we bumped into Skywarp and got held up. He hates us."

Soundwave shook his head and Ravage copied him. "Provoking grounded Seekers is unwise."

"Come on, boss!" Rumble smiled, hopping up onto Soundwave's desk, "Seekers are there to mess with."

"New order: Stay away from the Seekers until aerial activity is restored," Soundwave said firmly, patting Ravage on the head and letting the cat minicon jump down.

"What?" Frenzy began to whinge, "But Soundwave-!"

"That is an order," Soundwave warned, "Seeker biology dictates the need for high-speed flight. Flight sensory deprivation may lead to processor malfunctions. Processor malfunctions makes Seekers unstable. Unstable Seekers are dangerous."

Laserbeak squawked uneasily and Buzzsaw heartily agreed. Sharing the air with _those_ kind of fliers wasn't something they were eager for.

"...So they go nuts?" Rumble concluded, sending Frenzy a panicked look.

"Megatron knows this, right?" Frenzy asked.

When Soundwave didn't say anything, his Casseticons froze. As though having to jumpstart his systems, Soundwave suddenly took off out of his room and down the corridor. Seconds behind him came his troop of minicons.

"Oh okay," Rumble said as he ran, "Well he will now!"

* * *

"Here we are, Raf. Your new home!" Bumblebee cooed, slipping into his room and closing the door behind him.

The little boy in his hand looked around at the large space with curiosity; he was an inquisitive type of human.

Pleased to see that his newest addition had calmed down now that there were no huge Autobots to stare at (beside Bumblebee but he wasn't exactly _huge_ ), Bumblebee softly called out, "Come, come! Where are you all at? Spike? Sam? Sari? Come here! Come meet your new friend!"

After a couple of seconds, there came the tiniest sound of the tiniest feet and from a high shelf abseiled a young girl, from within a fort playset emerged a teenage boy and from under the bed crawled a young man. They each made their way over to greet their large yellow guardian, climbing up onto his feet and pawing at his legs for attention.

"There you are!" Bumblebee gushed, bending down and using his free hand to gently pet each one. "And have you been good? Yeah? Of course you have! Look who I have here, guys."

Very carefully, he lowered his newest human pet down onto the floor where the other three could come over to investigate.

"He's very young and very scared so you have to be extra extra nice to him, okay?" Bumblebee told them.

Rafael was glad to have his feet on the ground again but wasn't quite ready to relinquish his hold on Bumblebee's finger.

"It's alright, Raf, go say hi!" the Autobot soothed, reassuring the youth by rubbing his back.

The girl had been the first to approach and was circling the new arrival with interest reaching her hand out to touch his hair.

"Ah, Sari, be gentle," Bumblebee reminded her and Sari listened, softly patting Raf's face instead.

She was only a little taller than he was but she seemed pleased that she had a friend more her size.

"Good," Bumblebee smiled, "Everyone, this is Rafael. Rafael, this is Spike." He pointed to the young man with auburn hair. "Sam." He pointed to the teenager with short dark hair. "And Sari." The red-haired girl. "Now go have fun and make friends."

Sari took Raf's hand and encouraged him to leave Bumblebee's finger and join them in playing with the car set. They were small enough to ride in the cars and they eagerly showed Raf what to do. After making sure they were getting along nicely, Bumblebee went over to the corner of his room that he had decorated into their living space to check their supplies.

"Well you guys have been hungry, haven't you?" he murmured to himself, kneeling down to check their refrigerated food store.

Everything he had provided had come from his action figure set that Wheeljack had made for him when he was old enough to play. Wheeljack had made him miniature replicas of the Ark and the Nemesis and even some of the bases on Cybertron as well as a bunch of mini model replicas of the Autobots and the Decepticons so he could "learn strategy and all that", according to the inventor.

"Let's see, what are you low on..." Bumblebee checked the contents of the refrigerator, "I'll get more of that Pizza food and some of those dry niblet things you like with milk. Cereal, isn't it? Okay, I'll get some of that. Eggs, cheese... Oh dear, that cheese doesn't look good. I'll get new cheese. Oh hello Spike!"

Spike had suddenly climbed into Bumblebee's lap and up his arm to sit on his shoulder, looking pretty pleased with himself. Spike had been Bumblebee's first human and he had been Sam's age when he first came but now he had grown into a adult.

"You being nice to Raf? Hmm?" Spike touched Bumblebee's faceplate and made a noise. "Yeah, good boy. You wanna help me with your food list? Do you want anything?"

Spike realised what Bumblebee was saying and he slid back down the arm to dash over to the small desks (also courtesy of Wheeljack's toy set) and scribbled on a piece of paper. The best form of communication, the humans had found, was to draw what they wanted and Bumblebee, the yet-be-discovered expert of Earth culture, was extremely good at interpreting what they meant but he just put that down to his childishness. Looking at the drawing Spike presented to him, Bumblebee thought he recognised the red dotted shape. He looked it up on his internal computer and presented a hologram of it to Spike who excitedly pointed at it.

"Strawberry? This one?" It seemed to match. "Oh okay, strawberries it is then. Hmmm, we'll have to find out what sort of food Raf likes, won't we?"

He chuckled fondly as his beloved humans came to see him, jumping on his hands and chattering to each other and to a much more appeased Raf who actually seemed to be taking to his new life very well. He was quite content to curl up under Bumblebee's fingers and grin cheekily up at the Autobot.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Bumblebee suddenly announced. "Managed to get you little ones a few more seeds. Ratchet wasn't happy but here you are. Can you use these?"

He brought a packet of seeds from his arm compartment and handed it over to Sam who inspected it with Spike, Sari and Raf. They seemed pretty pleased and ran off towards their flower pots in the sun patch which came down from the window above Bumblebee's bed which was open a little bit to let in some oxygen for the humans. Bumblebee was trying to give his pets as many different activities to do as possible and gardening seemed to be something they all took turns in doing and, surprising Bumblebee with their impressive farming skills, had grown themselves their own vegetables to eat.

"Bumblebee?" suddenly came a gruff voice followed by a knock at his door.

Raf, who was still acclimatising to his new life, looked scared a little but Spike, Sam and Sari recognised the voice and were quick to reassure their new companion.

"Uh-oh. Come here, Raf, come hide here," Bumblebee whispered, motioning his hand to his toybox. Raf was quickly escorted there by his fellow humans. "I'm coming!" the yellow Autobot called out and opened his door, "Yes, Ironhide?"

Ironhide quickly glanced around the room before smirking at Bee. "Thought you went on a... hehe... 'mission'," Ironhide said, leaning against the doorframe, "Scouting Decepticon activity, was it?"

"Uh-huh," Bumblebee nodded, watching Sari and Spike chase a ball across the room. The Autobots knew about his already existing humans so this didn't cause a reaction in Ironhide.

"Well, you know, you're supposed to go report back to Prime afterwards," the larger mech pointed out.

"Oh right!" Bumblebee realised, "Yeah, I was going to do that."

"Off you go, then."

So Bumblebee hopped out of his room and shut it closed behind him before Ironhide could peek in on the lookout for any new additions to his little human family.

* * *

Prowl was looking as alert as he always did whenever he was speaking to the Prime and the Autobots guessed that it wasn't for show - Prowl always looked like he was on duty.

"So in summary," he was saying, "Since increasing surveillance, Decepticon movements have completely ceased. We're almost certain they know what we're doing and they've locked themselves up in their castle for now. How long they'll stay there is another investigation entirely."

"Thank you for the report, Prowl," Optimus grunted, not entirely satisfied, "What else is there that I should know?"

"Only that there's a human colony fifty clicks South of our base that appear to be getting a bit aggressive," Prowl said, "Wouldn't say they're the friendliest of neighbours."

"Okay, keep an eye on them. We don't want to start an additional war with humankind," Optimus told him and signed off.

Prowl leant back in his chair and stretched his arms. He was always tired these days but there was a weird part of him that liked being tired - it meant that he was being busy! But now that his report to Optimus had been given there was suddenly... nothing to do.

"You gonna finally recharge now?" Hound asked from the bar, "Or are you going to wait there until your optics fall out?"

"Let me know the minute something happens," Prowl told him, in effect answering Hound's question as he got up and headed to his quarters. That Human colony wasn't a threat but from what he had seen and heard, it looked as though they weren't impressed with sharing their planet with giant alien robots and they wanted them out. _Can't blame them_ , Prowl supposed, _I mean, who would want to share a planet with the likes of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker?_

Along with Hound and Bluestreak, Prowl maintained an Autobot base with the speed-loving twins and there were times he considered calling up Optimus with a request to swap teammates.

Well, that wasn't entirely fair, Prowl supposed.

The twins were reckless at times and often got bored having to hang around with the older bots but when it came to it, they could be very serious and had their heads more in the game than the others did at times. Prowl was also thankful for their quick reaction times - especially Sideswipe who'd had the honour of piloting the Ark way back when.

In his room, the Autobot's Tactical Advisor briefly went over his Log before preparing to power down for a few cycles, grateful for the peace and tranquillity and... stillness... and calmness... and... complete... and total silence...

"PROWL! Hey, Prowl! Prowl! **PROWL**! Yo Prowl, you awake?"

Cursing and then subsequently apologising to Primus, Prowl got up and stomped over to his door.

"Yes I'm awake! What do you want, Sideswipe?" He glared at the sleek red Autobot smiling at him.

"You got a call from Perceptor. Apparently he heard from Wheeljack who took a message from Moonracer who had been on the line to Cosmos at the time-"

"Is Perceptor still on the line?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Then you could have just told me that!" Prowl groaned, dashing off down the hall towards his computer again.

* * *

"...nd it turned out that the mech was actually a femme but, you know, it was all good in the hood so-"

"Off!" Prowl snapped, clicking his fingers at Sunstreaker who slunk off in a sulk. "What's the issue, Perceptor?" Prowl then asked the bot on screen who Sunstreaker had been chatting away to.

"Ah, Prowl," Perceptor responded in his clear accent, as though he needed to confirm the recipient of the call, "You'll need to get in touch with Optimus."

Eavesdropping by the door, Sideswipe nodded at his twin. "So Optimus will get told by Prowl who was contacted by Perceptor who heard from Wheeljack who took a message from Moonracer who had been on the line to Cosmos at the time that-"

"What!?" Prowl cried, all his systems flaring at once, "But that's... Was Cosmos absolutely sure? He was certain it was a Quintesson ship? He got a good long look at it, did he?"

"Well, if it were myself up there in orbit," Perceptor replied, "I believe I would have only reported it as an unidentified spacecraft unless I were sure of its origin or name. I doubt Cosmos would jump to naming it a Quintesson craft unless he were certain of this information."

"Where is the ship exactly?"

"Apparently it has just entered the Solar System of Earth's Sun. It's mooching around... Um... Ur... Uranu... Some planet, anyway. But by their flight plan, it's making a bee-line for us."

Prowl tapped the arm of his chair anxiously. "There's only one reason they'd come to an organic planet like Earth," he murmured.

"Quite," Perceptor agreed with a grim face, "They have no need for humans. They must know we are here."

"Where's an Intergalactic restraining order when you need one?" Hound commented. Prowl forgot he was still at the bar.

"I will pass this on to Optimus immediately," he told the scientist, "Were you not able to contact him yourself?"

"There is quite a tale behind that and it includes the accidental deletion of certain, eh, contact numbers," Perceptor said in a quiet voice, "But I shall spare you the details. Please get a hold of Prime. Cosmos estimates that they'll arrive on the surface in 2 months."

"Quintessons were always procrastinators," Sunstreaker sighed with shake of his head.

"Yeah, they aren't selling themselves as very good parents," Sideswipe added.

Prowl looked around at the people in the room, wishing for a little privacy. "Will do, Perceptor. Prime will pass on the message once he hears it," he assured his friend to which Perceptor threw a small salute and signed off.

* * *

It took Optimus by surprise when Teletraan-1 started chiming once more. He was more surprised to find that it was Prowl, whom he had only just spoken to before Bumblebee had come to give his 'report'. The youngster grinned up cheekily at the familiar face on the screen and had Prowl owned a tongue, he'd have stuck it out playfully back at him.

"Prowl," Optimus greeted, sitting down, "I... wasn't expecting you to call back in quite so soon."

Prowl was looking worried and he kept wringing his fingers together in knots. "Sorry Optimus, but we have a high priority alert," he said, "You'll want to hear this."

" _And you'll hear it from Prowl who heard it from Perceptor who heard it from- OW_!" Somewhere off camera, Prowl had given Sideswipe a mighty good thump.

"Prime? We've received intel from Cosmos..."

* * *

"Quintessons?" Ironhide spat, crossing his strong arms, "Not those morons again!"

"Can't take a hint, can they?" Jazz snorted, "Jus' can't take a no for a no."

"Well," Ironhide then smirked, "I have a few ideas on how to pound a message home to them. _Several_ messages."

Bumblebee jumped to his side. "I'll help you pound messages, Ironhide!" he said in determination, "You just point me at them! I'll do a whole lotta pounding!"

Ironhide looked down at the tiny Autobot proudly and patted his helm. "Atta boy! A chip off the old 'hide. Kid after my own spark."

"Ironhide..." Optimus frowned warningly. He couldn't count how often he had found Ironhide and Bumblebee play-fighting in the training rooms. One-sided fights, sure, but fighting all the same. It mainly involved Ironhide just sitting there while a tiny yellow bot tried various tackles on him which never accomplished anything other than wearing Bumblebee out.

"So what's our move?" asked Ratchet, rubbing his face as sudden unexplainable exhaustion came over him at the thought of having to wrestle Decepticons with one hand and waft Quintessons away with the other.

"First I'll let all teams know," Optimus decided, "The Decepticons too."

There was a brief silence which allowed the Autobots to hear Sam managing to topple a stack of bricks in Bumblebee's room in the distance.

Jazz cleared his throat and inhaled air. "Say what?"

"The _Decepticons_?" Ratchet spluttered, checking to make sure his audio was turned up, "Optimus, with all due respect..."

"The Quintessons are an enemy shared by Autobots _and_ Decepticons," Optimus told them, predicting such a reaction, "They have a right to know."

"Plus," Bumblebee now chirped up from Optimus' left leg (he was sat on the Prime's foot), "they do kinda stick out in that big ol' fortress thing. They'd get spotted in no time."

"What about the Neutrals?" Ironhide asked in a quiet voice, slumping down in a chair nearby and resting his arms on his legs s he leant forward, "How'r they going to find out?"

Jazz had slouched against the wall, his arms folded and his head bent so low that you could only see his reflective visor. "Guess it's when they get abducted and told to give their lovin' Creators a big ol' hug."

"We can have teams sent out to warn them," Optimus told them, "And the Predacons too."

Bumblebee's hand shot up from his new spot under the table (could he not stay in one spot?). "Dibs not doing that!" he called.

Ratchet raised an eyebrow at him. "...What's 'dibs'?" he asked.

"Means I get first say," Bumblebee answered, lowering his hands and swaying back and forth merrily on his feet as he returned to stand by the 'big bots', "I say I'm _not_ going to find Predacons."

"Well obviously not, small fry," Ironhide guffawed, nudging the youngster so that he fell over and toppled into Optimus, "You're staying with one of us until those Quintessons have cleared off."

"A Quintesson would gladly snatch _you_ up," Ratchet nodded, "You're small and young so they'll think you'll be easy to manage and contain..." He looked off into the middle-distance and shook his head. "The fools."

A concerned expression then came over Bee's face and he looked up at Optimus who had caught him. "Will the humans be okay?" he asked. It was endearing how fond Bumblebee had become of the fragile little organics that lived on the planet.

"They should leave the humans alone," Optimus assured him, "Humans have nothing to do with Quintessons."

"Unless the Quintessons get it into they heads that they created humankind too," Ironhide pointed out with a smile.

"All humans are free!" Jazz laughed, "If it breathes, it's a Quintesson creation."

The others stared blankly at him, not understanding the joke, if there was one.


	4. This Is The Fourth Chapter

**The longest chapter so far and it's _all_ Decepticon.**

* * *

"Shockwave," Megatron's voice spoke in a dangerously slow and soft voice which actually made Shockwave, a very rare target of his master's wrath, nervous, "when _exactly_ was the Seeker's new flight room meant to be ready?"

Pausing in his work, Shockwave's single red optic turned to face the door where Megatron had appeared though he hadn't bothered to come further into the room.

"It's difficult to give an exact figure, Lord Megatron," Shockwave replied, collecting himself and straightening up from his desk, "Facilities for indoor flight are highly difficult to construct and maintain."

Megatron's finger, the one that belonged to his right arm - his fusion canon arm - tapped against his leg in frustration.

"I presume," Megatron growled, "you are aware of what Soundwave has just described to me as Seeker Psychosis? It is not, as I was previously lead to believe, some humourous comedy act that Starscream's team liked to act out while in the throes of Cabin Fever."

Had Shockwave the ability to look startled or nervous, that would be the face presented in front of the Decepticon leader. "...I have, Lord Megatron," he answered in as calm a voice as he could.

Megatron made a 'humm' sound and casually glanced around Shockwave's office where schematics and designs and lines of code all for the future Flight Room were spread out on every available surface. There was no sign, of course, of any 'Thank You Card' from Starscream.

"And exactly when was this information supposed to be divulged to me, Shockwave?" Megatron asked. Shockwave had never felt more like Starscream in his life. For a fleeting moment, the scientist almost began to understand and even... feel sorry for Megatron's wretched SIC.

"I... did not feel the need to trouble you with that information at the present time," Shockwave said in a voice that was just as emotionless as Soundwave's although he was feeling plenty of emotion on the inside, "I admit the error in my judgement."

"Oh I'm glad to hear that," Megatron muttered, returning his sole attention to his scientist, "Very glad indeed. Now." His voice dropped into a threatening tone. "What's your solution except to get a move on with those new facilities?"

"It can sometimes take a while before the effects of Psychosis become dangerous, my liege," Shockwave hurriedly replied, "I would estimate we have a couple of earth weeks before any action is needing to be taken."

It didn't seem to appease Megatron as much as Shockwave had hoped.

"A couple of things stand out about that statement, Shockwave," his Master began, folding his great arms, "You say it "'sometimes' takes a while" which gives the idea that 'sometimes' it does NOT take a while. The other thing is the word 'estimate'. When I have a small force of sixteen insane Seekers trapped on the Nemesis with me, I'd like definitive facts and statistics, not _estimations_!"

"Like all things, Seeker Psychosis affects the victim in different ways and at different speeds," Shockwave went on, desperate to salvage something from this turn of events, "I cannot give concrete statistics until the effects have begun to wear in."

"So your suggestion is?"

This was Shockwave's only chance. "...Evacuate the Nemesis and relocate to the fortress below, leaving the Seekers contained up here," he suggested, "I shall lock myself in here until my work is done. Then, once I have successfully given the Seekers access to their new facilities, the Decepticons may return."

Megatron seemed to consider this in silence. Who knew what thoughts were ticking about inside his head.

"Any news on the Autobot surveillance?" he asked, his voice now void of the harsh tones that were usually reserved for Starscream.

Relieved, Shockwave shook his head. "Still strong, my Lord."

* * *

Wheezing Arrow almost squealed in surprise as a blue arm slammed against the door in front of him, barring the way. He turned terrified red optics to his leader.

"Do NOT go in there!" Starscream hissed, "That is MY room!"

"I thought all of _this_ was your room?" He waved a hand around behind him where only a couple of other Seekers were milling about, sharing in one another's grief at being denied flight.

"It is. But so's that bit," Starscream told him, nodding to the door that lead to another smaller room at the back of Starscream's main quarters, "Especially that bit. And it's mine!"

It had been only a week since their daily flying routine outside the Nemesis were brought to a stop and, for a flock that was used to taking frequent flights on a daily basis, the cold-turkey quit was causing quite a bit of distress.

A mix of frustration and pent up flying energy gnawed in Wheezing Arrow's spark and, all of a sudden, he lost focus on who he was.

The Seekers had two languages: one verbally spoken and the other, a more primitive language, communicated through body language. No other Decepticon was aware of the secret language between the Air Command, not even Megatron. 'Wing Speak' was a spark-born ability which allowed silent but very basic conversation. The position and height of a Seeker's wings could tell the rest of the flock of the current 'mood' while wing movements such as flicks and twitches and slow flaps could say a variety of things.

Wings were also used to show respect - especially to those who ranked higher than you - and, right now, Wheezing Arrow was seriously breaching the Seeker code.

"OI!" Starscream snarled venomously, "Don't start! Knock those wings down an inch!"

Wheezing Arrow's wings had crept up a little too high for a Seeker who was addressing the Air Commander. Only Starscream had the authority to hold his wings at _that_ particular angle. Anyone else who dared present his wings like that to the leader either had a death threat or was challenging the throne, so as to speak.

As though he were snapped from a trance, Arrow shook his head and stared at Starscream in terror, immediately lowering his wings, unable to believe what he'd done.

"Who's Alpha?" Starscream growled in a low voice, lifting his wings over their heads and baring his talons. The other Seeker slowly edged away from him, his head low.

"...You are," he whimpered.

Starscream seemed to relax a little. "So are you going to try going into my private room?"

"...No."

"Good."

Not waiting to be punished, Wheezing Arrow fled Starscream's quarters, startling Ion Storm on his way out.

Starscream briefly gave his private room door a worried look before glancing around to make sure he wasn't been observed and discretely hopping inside, locking the door firmly behind him.

Nearby, Thundercracker and Skywarp, who was still feeling a little touchy about Rumble and Frenzy, had seen and heard the exchange with absolute shock, paying little mind to their leader's skulking actions.

"Did Arrow just attempt a dominate display? To _Starscream_?" Thundercracker whispered to his Trine Mate.

The Elite Trine weren't always the most loyal of friends to one another (in fact, there were times they were all too happy to get each other in trouble for the sake of a little entertainment) but when it came to rankings, Thundercracker and Skywarp were well aware of their prestigious positions as the Right and Left wings of the Air Commander and they were NOT prepared to give up their status to the likes of another Seeker.

If Starscream lost his title of 'Alpha', Thundercracker and Skywarp would lose their rights to demand total and completely reasonable respect and dominance over the others.

And they'd have to wait in line for their energon instead of cutting to the front like they always do.

"The glitch!" so Skywarp hissed back, "I'll give him a little reminder of the pecking order."

* * *

Starscream's private room was considerably more cosy that his main quarters but that might have been due to the size. Compared to the rest of the room outside the door, the inner room was tiny, only just fitting in a seat and a few odd pieces around on the floor. In reality, the room was meant to be a storage room but Starscream had refurbished it into a private den where he could hide from other Decepticons and his duties as Second in Command for a while.

It was also an effective place to hide additional stowaways.

Now, let's get this straight: Starscream was no Bumblebee.

Starscream had little love, if any, for the human population of planet Earth and his response to stepping on one was a deadpan face and an emotionless exclaimation of "whoops".

He found their tiny size to be unsettling, their unpredictability unnerving.  
Their fleshy organic bodies were creepy and their very biology baffled him.  
The way they utilised things around them felt too advanced for a creature of their size and the way they seemed to stare and study Starscream was every bit as threatening as the way Starscream stared and studied them.

However, the worst thing was how humans, despite their size, their fragility, their primitive ways, had access to the Cybertronian playing field by using their vehicles - especially their jet planes. Starscream kept his distance from them at all times and the other Seekers were less than eager to share the skies with them too. It repulsed them to think that, hidden in those cockpits, were squishy organics sitting with their squishy hands all over the throttle stick and the dials and the buttons.

Of all the Seekers, Thundercracker was probably the one who tolerated them the most and had even commented that, sometimes, they could be quite cute and he wouldn't mind having one of his own if he could just get past the _organic_ side of it. Starscream had, of course, rebuked him and told him exactly what he thought of that in as eloquent a way as Starscream could make it and the matter had been dropped.

So the last thing Starscream could reveal to the Seekers was the fact that he had gone and smuggled a human on board the Nemesis and into their fold.

For despite all that Starscream hated about them, there were certain aspects to humans that fascinated him.

Their inquisitiveness - when something interested them or peaked their curiosity, they were like children wanting to know more.  
Their resilience - despite being vulnerable to biological sicknesses, they seemed to stride through life with little worry. They even were willing to amputate their limbs in certain circumstances even though they couldn't reattach body parts like Cybertronias could.  
Their ferocity - they thought nothing of grouping together and angrily trying to take on something several times bigger than they were.  
Their mentality - the way they seemed to pack-bond with inanimate objects, forge close friendships with some individuals and not with others, protect complete strangers with their lives despite not having any real reason to do so.

Maybe it was how Cybertronian-like they were that intrigued him the most and which lead him to allow one young human to approach him one day while he was courageous hiding from his Master's wrath.

Looking back on that fateful encounter, Starscream couldn't deny that, from a human's point of view, discovering a red white and blue Cybertronian military jet in the middle of a copse of trees in the country was, no doubt, quite strange. Said jet unfolding into a dangerous Decepticon was another matter entirely. But the human hadn't fled and, for that, Starscream rewarded it's bravery by not killing it.

Slumping into his chair and watching her brush her hair with her tiny hair brush, Starscream knew that it had been a while and he still was trying to work out why he had become so fond of little Alexis. All he could think that it was something to do with the fact that she had been kind to him and, for someone like Starscream, kindness wasn't something you came across often, if at all, among Decepticons.

She must have sensed the sudden attention because she stopped in her preening and looked over her shoulder, blinking at Starscream and blessing him with a pleased smile. She then got to her feet, toddled over towards his wide feet and held up her arms, a way of asking to be picked up.

Any other human might have balked at the thought of a Seeker's lethal claws moving towards them but Alexis seemed to trust Starscream implicitly - something that only added to Starscream's wonder.

She was a petite, dainty little creature but she seemed to hold steady footing when balancing on Starscream's smooth metal armour, holding onto his sharp knee plates if she felt herself going over.

Her favourite place to be though was in the cockpit and she would tap the glass expectantly when she wanted to get in as she was doing now.

It had taken a while before Starscream had relented to letting her sit in there, not taking to the idea of a squiggly, wiggly organic scooting about inside him but Alexis was a headstrong young woman and what she wanted she eventually got and so she accomplished the task of becoming the first human to sit within the cockpit of Air Commander Starscream.

She would often sit in there when she got tired of being cooped up in the small room because Starscream would occasionally take her for a ride out and around the Nemesis when he was off duty (it was still risky and he had to avoid the likes of Megatron, Soundwave and Shockwave as though they had cybonic plague). Alexis had her favourite spot at the back of the cockpit in the passenger seat because that was closer to Starsceam's spark and she took comfort in the pulsing 'heart-beat' she could feel in the background.

Unfortunately for her, Starscream hadn't time to take her for a walk today and he apologetically put her back down on the floor, not daring to look at her crest-fallen face.

"As soon as I'm flying again," Starscream promised her, "I'll take you for a good long ride." He wasn't sure, however, just how long that would be.

* * *

In Soundwave's room, Rumble and Frenzy were engaged in a small wrestling competition which Laserbeak and Buzzsaw seemed to be spectating with great enthusiasm. Ravage couldn't have looked more disinterested but he did glance up when Soundwave entered his room, his hand already reaching up to his shoulder.

"Minicons, return," he ordered. They all stopped and looked surprised; there had been no word that there was a mission planned.

"Ooh!" Rumble eagerly said and clapped his hands, "Are we going somewhere?"

"Megatron's orders: we are retreating," Soundwave explained. It wasn't the answer his minicons were expecting.

"...Re-? Retreating?" Rumble repeated, turning to Frenzy and Ravage for confirmation, "But... from where? This is our base..."

"All Decepticons must evacuate," Soundwave said in an authoritive tone, "Now return."

Rather than choose to argue further, Rumble sensibly accepted what was happening and succumbed to the call of his Commander, jumping and transforming to fit snuggly into his compartment in Soundwave's chest. Frenzy was right behind him and both Buzzsaw and Laserbeak followed suit. Ravage was the last to enter, pouncing up and sliding in smoothly so that Soundwave's chest compartments now all had residents.

Soundwave closed up his chest and, feeling a little more heavier than he did before, collected his small number of personal belongings and closed up his room for the last time. He sincerely hoped that Shockwave wouldn't take long in his work so that he could return and everyone could get back to doing their usual job of winning the war.

Outside in the corridor, the Decepticon scientist was scolding a very sullen-faced Mixmaster who had been trying to run to catch up with the other Constructicons.

"Go slow," Shockwave told him, "We don't want to give the Seekers the idea that there's something wrong. Evacuate _slowly_ and casually."

It dawned on Soundwave that he hadn't seen the Seekers in a while but that was probably because they were trying to avoid the others in an attempt to show that there was nothing wrong with them.

Clearly, everyone thought of each other as idiots on this ship.

That was certainly the case a good distance away as an oblivious Blitzwing, who shouldn't have been there at all, went dancing down the corridors in the midst of a merry time. He was prone to very sudden and very disconcerting personality switches at times but mainly drifted between a crazed tank who loved to violently fight and a crazed jet who liked to laugh at violent fighting.

It was safe to say that he and Skywarp were not allowed to be alone in the same room together anymore.

Turning a corner, he was blissfully unaware of the approach of one of Skywarp's teammates until he ploughed straight into the Seeker with a grunt. There was a annoyed hiss.

"Watch where you're stepping three-face!"

Blitzwing hopped up and down indignantly for a second, ready to have a throw down. "How's about YOU watch where... where..."

He broke off once he realised who it was: the Seeker's last survivng femme. And she was looking royally ticked off.

Recalling that news had come about the potential instability of the flying Decepticons, Blitzwing was quick to correct himself for fear that he was going to be cannibalised, "Actually, you know what? You're right and I'm wrong. Very sorry. Please don't go insane on me."

Slipstream's claws were rigid but she tilted her head curiously for a moment. "...What?"

Taking that as an opportunity to run, Blitzwing waved at her and spun around on his heel. "Bye bye," he sang and went trotting off, giggling loudly out of panic.

Unfortunately for him, Slipstream wasn't ready to let him go yet.

"What are you even doing up here?" she called after him, stalking towards him like a predator, "I thought triple-changers were meant to keep themselves in the fortress. Let me guess, Astrotrain kicked you out?"

Blitzwing knew he had to play this cool. "Turns out there's only so many times he'll let me play _'Dumb Ways To Die'_ on loudspeaker before he gets tired."

"Amazing," Slipstream grinned, a sadistic gleam in her optics, "I only have to spend two seconds with you before I get tired."

"Oh are you tired?" asked Blitzwing, bouncing up and down again, "You should, I don't know, rest or something. Go and, um, you know, lie down. Back in your room."

The grin was now gone from Slipstream. "...What in the actual pit is wrong with you?" she asked.

"Hey, you need to calm down!" cried Blitzwing, holding out his hands, "I think the question is, what's wrong with YOU, lady? I'm not the one whinging about not using my wings. Look at me!" He then bent over backwards and turned into a tank, trundling down the corridors in the direction of the nearest exit. "Ruthless!" he called out in triumph.

* * *

From that strange encounter, Slipstream walked in a daze, her vision dipping in and out of focus from time to time, fleeting moments of time just skipping past her.

She had no recollection of that last corridor she came down at all and if she'd stopped to ponder on that, she might have grown quite scared but, as it happened, she was distracted by her fellow Seekers upon turning a corner on her way to Starscream's quarters and finding the hallways full of them.

They were scratching their necks and behind their shoulders, gathered around Skywarp and Wheezing Arrow as they appeared to be trying to strangle one another much to the encouragement of the watching crowd. It was painfully obvious that the everyone's processors were beginning to wear down and there was nothing that could be done about it at the moment but wait.

Thundercracker was presiding over the event in complete silence.

"...What's going on here?" Slipstream asked and got the expected response.

"None of your business." After that, Thundercracker looked guilty, as he always did, and hunched his shoulders, as he always did, and very slowly drew out a long sigh, as he always did. "If you're looking for Starscream, he's in his room."

As it turned out, she _was_ looking for Starscream but she took a few moments to reflect on the scene outside Starscream's doors.

"...Is this really it?" she murmured, blinking away her blurry vision again, "No flying for a few Earth spins and we descend into... this?"

Thundercracker's optic violently twitched but he didn't seem to notice that. He nodded over the crowd. "...Bitstream hasn't moved in hours."

Sure enough, the dark blue Seeker was slumped on his knees with his head turned up towards the ceiling, staring at one of the small lights above him.

"I'm not sure if he's stuck or if he's trying to burn out his visionary sensors."

Beyond Bitstream, the rest of the corridor was void of life and it was enough to remind Slipstream what the purpose of her coming was.

"Out of curiosity," she said, "have you seen any other Decepticons around lately?"

Thundercracker shrugged. "They've been avoiding me so no. Been very quiet in this sector today," he replied.

Slipstream's face darkened and without saying a word to Thundercracker, strode firmly over to Starscream's doors and entered them without waiting for permission. There was no-one else in the room when she came in and Starscream's glossy red, blue and silver frame was the most eye-catching piece out of everything in there.

He was lounging in his chair, foot tapping against the side and hiding his face behind his sharp fingers when he briefly peered past them to see who had entered.

"Oh for slag's sake, Slipstream, not now," he groaned, "Spare me your cutting words for a few cycles, would you?"

"Who said I wanted to waste energon talking to _you_?" Slisptream scoffed, shaking her vision back into place again.

Starscream dropped his hand and glared at her as he got to his feet. "You have that face on," he said, stepping towards his store of energon high-grade.

"Face?" Slipstream patted her cheeks. "This is my only face."

"And as beautiful as it is, it's giving a plain message that you're wanting to talk to me."

"You know us so well, Commander," Slipstream muttered but soon dropped her snarky attitude, "I've only come to give you a report. Spying and collecting information is my job, after all."

"Mmmmm." Starscream took a long drink and smacked his lips. "Very well, give your report."

"The Decepticons are avoiding us," Slipstream told him and found all her worries and anxieties pouring out of her mouth, "We haven't seen Megatron since the ban, Shockwave hasn't said anything, we've barely-"

"Slipstream," Starscream's gravelly voice interrupted her, unintentionally soothing her flyaway thoughts, "what are you trying to say?"

Slipstream rang her sharp fingers together. "...I think they're leaving us."

Her commander looked bewildered and frowned, lowering his glass and wings. "...How do you mean?"

"I caught Blitzwing wandering about up here."

"That can't be right. Triple-changers are stationed in the fortress."

"The only way he could have gained access to the Nemesis is if the service lifts were active. I've heard them going to and fro." One second, two second, three second, four... "...I think they're leaving us." Five Second, six second, seven second, mor-

"...Seekers, with me!" Starscream shouted, abandoning his drink and utilising his long legs to cover the distance to the door, throwing it open and startling everyone outside, "All of you! WITH ME!"

* * *

"How long until everyone has cleared the Nemesis?" Megatron asked.

"93% of Decepticon forces have evacuated," Soundwave replied, "The last service lift will be any moment."

"Except for the Seekers," Megatron couldn't help but add and glanced at Shockwave, "Do they suspect?"

"I..." Shockwave began but seemed to change his tune, "Unknown. The highest probability is that they do not."

Megatron growled in irritation. "Probability, estimations, guesswork..." he muttered, "Where's concrete information when I need it?"

"Concrete information is that you and Soundwave must make your way into the fortress now," Shockwave told him, a sense of uneasiness coming over him and almost sending him back to his workspace there and then.

"Lord Megatron," Soundwave warned, "incoming message. Autobot origin."

"A message from the Autobots?" Shockwave murmured suspiciously.

"Play it through," Megatron nodded. A moment later and the voice of Optimus Prime rang out in the corridor to the listening audio receptors of the three Decepticons present.

" _Megatron, my message must be brief for I fear that my fellow Autobots may... attempt to have their own additional and rather unsavoury messages passed on. We have gained intelligence from Earth's atmosphere that a large force of Quintessons, two warships, are en route to this planet. I do not expect that you are in any doubt of their intentions. Bear this warning in mind and defend yourselves."_

That was it.

After the brief message, the three of them were silent for a moment.

"...We're all thinking it," Megatron murmured, "I know we're all thinking it, but don't. No-one is going to ask how this situation-"

"MEGATRON!" a distant scream from a Starscream echoed down the Nemesis, followed by the pounding of thruster heels on metal.

"...Could get worse," Megatron finished and clapped his scientist on the shoulder, "Shockwave, the best of Decepticon luck to you. Farewell."

He had barely finished his sentence before he and Soundwave sprinted for the service lift and Shockwave took off towards his room, practically diving in through the doors and deadlocking them behind him as, outside, a flock of angry Seekers realised their imprisonment.


	5. The Fifth Chapter Where Things Happen

**Writer's Note - Thank you for reviews and support on this story! A quick note for anyone who does not know: I always feature end-credits at... well, at the end of the story, funnily enough. I will be sure to acknowledge you all there!  
Oh yeah, one other thing! I shall apologise in advance for my British spelling of certain words. It's a habit. - Duma**

* * *

The Quintesson cruiser _Paradigm_ silently glided through the vaccume of space like a ghost ship, casting sinister shadows over smaller space debris that bounced harmlessly off its shields.

From the outside, the scene appears ominous.

To the bored occupants, the space debris bouncing off the shields was annoying.

The Sharkticons were trying to busy themselves by playing a massive game of hide and seek while their more emotionless but arguably slightly more intelligent co-workers, the Allicons, were either attending computers or trying to find jobs to do by wandering around the corridors and opening and shutting the cleaning cupboards.

On the bridge, the doors swished open and a tentacled creature with a long head appeared.

"Aw heck, are we not there yet?" Admiral Krahulik complained, sneering out the window at the same starry darkness.

Standing with his tentacles folded and watching the crocodilian Allicons tend to the computers stood Overseer Vashik - a salty creature that never seemed impressed with any job he had been given, including accompanying Admiral Krahulik on the _Paradigm_ with his Sharkticon and Allicon armies.

"You're the one insisting on searching _every_ tiny little rock that floated our way," he said over his shoulder, "But if you really want something to celebrate about, we're pretty sure we're in the right solar system."

"Oh. Well that's good."

Krahulik and Vashik were both Quintesson Prosecutors, tasked with, well, prosecuting their enemies with (in the enemies' opinion) very unfair trials. Now, however, they had been ordered, along with another ship, to travel from their techno-organic homeworld of Quintessa to the completely organic Earth in order to find their lost 'children': the Cybertronians.

Krahulik sniffed and wiped a tentacle hand over his mouth. "You -ahem- do know which planet we need, don't you?"

"Yes. Earth. The Judges were very sure on that," Vashik replied hotly as Krahulik came to stand next to him.

The Admiral stuck out his lower lip and looked at it. "...And you know which one Earth is?"

"...Yes."

"Do you? Which one is it then?"

"...The one with Unicron in it."

"Earth is the pretty one," Inquirata the Scientist grumbled as he passed by them on his way through the bridge. Exactly why _he_ had to come was anyone's guess but no-one dared question the Judges.

"Ah-ha! There you are," Vashik nodded with a smug smile, "Earth is the pretty one."

Krahulik wrinkled his face as he peered through the window again and then glanced at the computer readouts which were showing information on each of the solar system's planetary bodies.

"Oh to the ends of the universe with this!" he groaned, "Every planet looks ugly."

"You're not exactly a looker, Krahulik," Vashik huffed, "How about you get a hold of General Ghyrik? We're supposed to be travelling in convoy and his ship has been dawdling around that tiny planet..." He briefly looked at the computer screen. "...Ploooto... for ages."

"What tiny planet?" Krahulik was shown the information on screen. "...That's not a planet. It's just a lump of cold rock that got caught in an orbit, that's all."

"It's a planet!"

"It's no different to an asteroid - it's just more round."

"It has moons."

"So does my Great Great Aunt but it doesn't make her a planet. Technically."

"I don't care. I'm calling it a planet and General Ghyrik has been hanging around it too long."

Krahulik put out his tentacles to pacify his, obviously quite distraught, colleague.

"Let me handle it," he sighed and approached a console, rudely leaning over the uncomfortable Allicon that was now receiving a face full of Quintesson chest. Clearing his throat, Krahulik activated the comms. "This is the _Paradigm_ calling-"

 _"Yes, what do you want?"_ The answering voice was distinguishable by the very slight rasp.

"Oh, Rexian," Krahulik greeted, "Is General Ghyrik there?"

Overseer Rexian was travelling with Ghyrik, a high-ranking Quintesson Executioner and Krahulik's opinion of both of them were... low.

In answer to his question, Rexian made a noise of indifference.

" _Ghyrik? He's somewhere. What do you want?"_

"Vashik was worried we might lose you round some of these planets," Krahulik explained, wincing as Vashik gave him a whack, "We can't afford to loiter if we want to catch-"

" _We're not loitering, we're sight-seeing_ ," Rexian retorted, " _The scenery of this solar system is very picturesque. Pleasing to the eyes and all_."

"I happen to find ultimate power, the conquest of our enemies and the retrieval of our belongings quite pleasing to the eyes too."

" _That isn't insolence I hear, is it Krahulik_?"

"No, Insolence has space sickness and is lying face down in the restroom. He isn't here."

" _Good_."

He then hung up and left Krahulik listening to an irritating dial tone. Turning off the comms, he straightened up (relieving the Allicon attending the computer) and sniffed again.

"...They're on their way."

* * *

"Grimlock, come in..." Optimus tried for the seventeenth time.

He had refused to show any other expression other than his current 'all is well and all is right with the world and this is totally normal' face.

"Grimlock, are you there?"

There was still no answer from the computer. He'd been at it for half an hour now and during that time he'd called up the likes of Perceptor (he suggested using a spanner. That was it), Prowl (who panicked and rang off), Elita-One (most of that half hour was spent flirting) and Wheeljack, who knew the Dinobots best (but his suggestion turned out to be useless).

"This is Optimus Prime calling Grimlock. Come in, please."

The radio buzzed in that barely audible tone that really drove you nuts if it was allowed to carry on. Behind Optimus, Ironhide gave a grunt and took another gulp of high-grade energon.

"...You know I hate being Captain Obvious, Prime," he commented, "but we don't seem to be making contact."

"You know I hate pulling rank, Ironhide," Jazz commented dryly back, "but ain't it time Captain Obvious retired?"

"Dinobots, this is Optimus Prime." Clearly Optimus wasn't ready to admit defeat yet. "Are you there?"

The silence confirmed it: No. No they were not.

"There's a definite connection, Optimus," Ratchet said, popping back out from under the desk, "You should be getting through."

"Then there's no-one home?" Jazz suggested as Ironhide finished his energon and threw the cup up in the air to catch.

"Takes a lot to make Grimlock move," Ironhide pointed out, "Unless it looks like a Decepticon."

"Is Grimlock grumpy with us again?" asked a small voice. Bumblebee was sat at the breakfast table on his high stool with his play-pad in his hands; their usual tactic to keep Bumblebee still in one spot, within their line of vision and, thanks to parental controls, out of trouble (they never forgot that one time, many cycles ago, when they walked in to find that Bumblebee had somehow managed to facetime Soundwave. Thankfully, the Decepticon spy didn't manage to glean any information because Bumblebee was new to facetime and all Soundwave got was the ceiling and Bumblebee's forehead).

"Don't you worry," Ratchet assured him, "Play on your pad and let Optimus concentrate."

So Bumblebee let him concentrate and, fifteen mintues later, when he had exhausted himself playing _Velocitron Run_ , he decided to check in on the progress.

 _Question Of The Day_ : How many Autobots does it take to call a Dinobot?

From Bumblebee's line of sight, sat on his tall stool at the table with his game pad in his hands and his feet nowhere close to touching the floor, it was at least 4.

-Optimus was in the chair, pushing the same button every few minutes.

-Ratchet was leaning over his left shoulder and was pointing at different places on the main screen.

-Jazz was at Optimus' right shoulder giving suggestions.

-Ironhide was stood behind them shaking his head and trying to bat Ratchet's hand away so that he could see.

Bumblebee could only imagine what the other Autobots were doing.

Of all of them, Perceptor and Wheeljack were probably the closest to getting hold of the Dinobot team. Maybe.

Growing tired of the process, the tiny yellow bot hopped off the stool and quietly pit-patted away to his room.

His humans were all grouped together in a huddle over by the Ark model but appeared to be behaving themselves when Bumblebee came in and plopped down on his beanbag.

Sam was smiling at Spike who was holding a baby and Raf was dancing about while Sari was laughing and they all seemed happy which was good enough for Bee so he settled himself down, offlined his optics and stretched out his legs, taking just a moment to process everything.

Sam was smiling...Spike was holding a baby...Raf was dancing...Sari was...

Spike was holding a baby.

Bumblebee's optics onlined and he sat up as straight as a pole.

Spike was holding a baby.

There was an actual baby in his arms.

Like, a real baby.

Bumblebee practically fell out the beanbag and clumsily staggered and half rolled over to the Ark model, much to the amusement of his human pets. Propping himself on his arms, Bumblebee pushed his head forward, enormous optics centred straight on the bundle that Spike was holding very carefully and protectively.

"Oh Primus," he whispered as Spike turned to proudly give his Autobot guardian a better view of the arrival. "Oh _Primus_!" Bumblebee 'screeched' in a voice which sounded like he was screaming but trying to keep his voice down at the same time. Whispered screaming.

Sam patted the baby's fluffy brown head while Spike looked mighty pleased with himself and Sari was trying to help Raf stand on tiptoes so he could see better - none of them could seem to identify a problem.

" _What did you do Spike_?" Bumblebee gasped, panicking as well as squealing with excitement, "How did you-?"

The baby was _impossibly_ tiny, tinier than Bumblebee could even comprehend. It was no bigger than the end of his digit and it had the tiniest eyes which were pressed shut and the tiniest nose and the tiniest rosebud mouth which then yawned...

"Oh Primus, that's cute! Okay, okay, I got this..." Bumblebee tried to ventilate his systems, his processor working overtime to try and work out what had happened. "Do you lot have anything to do with this?" he asked the other three but they just blinked at him in confusion, "Oh Primus! Spike, you're- I mean... Oh it's so tiny! Primus, it's tiny! Oh my spark, it just opened its eyes! Why are they so big when they open them? They were tiny before but now... No, Spike, no I can't!"

Spike was actually trying to hand the baby over for Bumblebee to hold but the Autobot dared not take it for fear he would break it. He had never seen a new-born human before and he certainly wasn't in the right frame of mind to _hold_ one. He could barely keep his hands from flapping about in absolute euphoria!

"Spike, what am I supposed to tell Optimus?" Bumblebee cried, "He's going to be so mad with me! I'll be suspended for sure!"

"Bumblebee?" a voice outside his door suddenly sounded, "What's going on?"

It was Ratchet.

"Scrapping rusted scrap!" Bumblebee cursed.

"Oi! Language! I'm coming in."

"No, Ratchet I-!" Before Bumblebee could do anything, Ratchet had entered his room and had a good view of the scene in front of him.

"...When did you get a fourth human? Didn't Optimus say..." But Ratchet's voice failed him once he saw, not little Raf, but Spike's tiny addition. He was stunned into absolute silence.

"I can explain!" Bumblebee hurriedly began, flapping his hands again, "Please don't tell Optimus! It was an accident! I don't know how it happened!"

Ratchet tilted an eyebrow.

"I swear!" Bumblebee wailed, "I swear on the AllSpark, I DON'T know how Spike had a baby."

"Baby?"

"That's... That's what human offspring are called. But I'm telling the truth!" he began to babble, "I don't know how it happened! I am absolutely positive that Spike is an XY human and they can't reproduce on their own! And Sari is my only XX human but she isn't, you know, _mature_ enough to- Ratchet, you have to believe me! I don't how it got here!"

Ratchet hadn't the foggiest clue on what XY humans and XX humans and ZXY whatever meant. He stared at Bumblebee's ramblings trying to work out where and when did Bumblebee learn all this human stuff. What exactly had he been reading?

"So," Ratchet then asked, glancing at the collection of humans behind Bumblebee, "it's definitely Spike's... Pup? Kitten? Cub? … Spawn?"

"Baby," Bee corrected nervously, "And I think it is. I did a scan and it _looks_ like Spike and shares biological genealogy with Spike and he's showing all the, you know, parent behaviour."

There was a pause as the Autobot medic tried using logic.

"...You're sure Sari is your only, um... X whatever?"

"Ratchet, I made sure!" Bumblebee was still crying, "I promise I did! This hasn't happened before! Ever! I swear!"

That was when he noticed that Ratchet wasn't listening to him anymore. He had tilted his head to look over Bumblebee's shoulder and nodded with a sigh.

Bumblebee turned to look back and saw, peeking out from the Ark model, another human - an XX human with long blonde hair. When she saw Spike, she hesitantly crept out from the model door and shyly stood at a polite distance, hugging her tummy which was still a little round and cautiously watching the two Autobots.

Spike noticed her and went back to greet her, kissing her cheek and handing her the baby which she held close to her chest with a soft expression on her face as the baby made a content snuffling noise into her neck.

Both Ratchet and Bumblebee stared.

"Oh."

"Well there you have it," Ratchet said, shaking his head.

Bumblebee slowly came over, kneeling down beside his Ark set as Sam, Sari and Raf climbed onto his knees to hug his arms.

"Spike," Bumblebee murmured in a gentle voice so as not to frighten this new human, "where did _she_ come from?"

Spike seemed to understand because he pointed a small hand over towards Bumblebee's bed.

"Oh," Bee realised, "my window. I leave it open sometimes to let them get fresh air."

"And you somehow missed Spike smuggling his mate into your room?" Ratchet scoffed, rubbing his helm in despair as he watched the blonde human take her new-born back into the Ark model, her face reappearing at a window the next level up shortly after. "...Not much we can do about it now that they've already bred. Don't want to disturb the nest."

Sam and Raf had jumped down to go and help Spike's mate but Sari had stayed in Bumblebee's arms as he turned pleading optics to Ratchet.

"You won't tell Optimus, will you?" he squeaked.

"I think you'll have to tell him," Ratchet replied.

"But Raaaaatchet..."

"Oh for Spark's sake, what's Optimus going to do to them, hmm? Kick them out? Just let him know what's happened and leave me out of it. If not, I'll tell him myself and he'll be disappointed in you for not telling him sooner."

Bumblebee looked crestfallen.

"He'll be disappointed in me?"

He hated disappointing Optimus Prime. Optimus was something of an idol to Bumblebee as well as a father figure and the very thought of letting HIM down...

" _Very_ disappointed," Ratchet nodded, knowing this.

"Okay, I'll tell him!"

With that, Bumblebee returned Sari to the ground and dashed from the room.

"There's a good Autobot," Ratchet hummed and then, rubbing his optics, took one last look at the blonde haired girl and an innocent-looking Spike. The young auburn haired man was gazing at Ratchet as though he were fully trusting that the Autobot wasn't going to turn away his family.

"You're causing Bumblebee a lot of trouble for all the compassion he's shown you, you know," Ratchet told him, not expecting the human to understand him at all.

Spike simply stared back at him with big round eyes. Humans really were quite cute.

"Primus help me," the poor medic groaned.

* * *

The only sound in Bumblebee's room was a snuffling, gurgling baby (an XY baby according to Bumblebee himself) and the sound of nervous humans trying to avoid eye contact with the large metal titans that had gathered together to see them.

Ratchet was over by the door, working everything out, as an astonished Jazz and Ironhide stood either side of an equally astonished Optimus.

"That's the smallest nano-human I've ever seen," Ironhide had been the first to comment.

"It's a matter of perspective," said Ratchet, "To them, it's about the size that a new-born sparkling would be to us."

"Except humans are made up of skin and flesh and other organic material. How did they-?"

"You don't need to know," Bumblebee interrupted, his main focus being to win his leader over, "Please don't be angry, Optimus Prime, Sir. I'm really sorry! I didn't know!"

It appeared as though Optimus were trying to work out which to be angry about first and the resulting conflict of emotions cancelled one another out.

"...When did you get a fourth human?" he simply murmured in a calm voice, gesturing towards Raf.

"I've had him a while. He's called Rafael. But _please_ Optimus, _please_ , don't be cross. I'm sorry!" Bumblebee was literally down on his knees at Optimus' feet in a desperate attempt at begging.

"...Y'know," Jazz said, "that's, like..." he quickly counted, "...5 and a half humans right there, man. Then when that little one grows up, it'll be 6."

Somewhere within the Ark (the actual Ark, not the model), an incoming alert began to blare and Optimus Prime groaned.

"...Ironhide, Jazz, with me. Bumblebee?" he gave the youngster 'the look', "We'll discuss this later."

As soon as Optimus and his two lieutenants had gone, Ratchet let out another long sigh and, without looking back, also left.

Bumblebee scootched over to his pets and took another good look at the tiny baby and then, for the first time, he beamed with delight.

* * *

 **Additional Writer's Note - There are no OC's in this story. Every named character has come from somewhere in the depths of Transformers lore.**


	6. The Sixth Chapter Is All Autobot

The countryside was quiet apart from the faint birdsong in the distance and the odd mecahnical clank that came from the huge Decepticon stronghold over the hill where three slender frames were camped out, observing it keenly.

Well, one of them was.

Of the other two, one was taking more of an interest in the countryside around them and the other appeared bored stiff.

"We've been here for ages," bored stiff Chromia complained, "I don't think they're intending to emerge from their termite mound."

"They're doing something," Elita-One had replied smartly, her zoomed in optics going over every feature of the twisted shard of dark metal that spiralled up into the atmosphere beneath the floated _Nemesis,_ "The service lifts were going up and down all day yesterday."

"It's been a while since we saw that lift move," Chromia pointed out, "Face it, the party's over."

"But they can't stay in there forever," Elita had insisted from her position on her front, "When the Quintessons arrive, they'll make a move and I want to be here to see it."

The third fembot of the group, Arcee, smirked to herself.

"What if I told you Optimus was driving our way?" she asked playfully.

Elita-One lifted her head up and looked around the landscape in confusion and hope. "What?" she asked, her voice rising a little.

Of course, Arcee and Chromia fell about laughing, high-fiving each other for good comradery measures which produced a glare from their leader.

"...You both bring shame on Solus Prime, you know that?"

"Come on, Elita," Chromia chuckled, twirling her gun around her finger, "We've left Firestar watching Moonracer and the rest of the base while we've come here to scope out a large unattractive tower with it's fetching Warship decoration on top. In fact, we've come here every day and there's been nothing. No Decepticon has come or gone."

"That you know of."

"I just would have figured that we'd have heard of some activity if not."

"Aw, Ironhide's coming too!" Arcee then piped up and Chromia had to stop herself from reacting as Elita had done.

"Hey watch it, Arcee!" she murmured, throwing a rock at her teammate which _bonked_ harmlessly off her shoulder.

Elita propped herself onto her elbows and sighed. "I suppose we can't leave Moonracer for long," she admitted, "Why don't you and Arcee go back and relieve Firestar?"

"How long are you expecting to stay out here?" Chromia asked, feeling that Elita was missing the point somewhat.

"Until I have something to report back to Optimus," Elita replied, "If we've got Quintessons on their way, we need as many eyes on as many back-stabbing enemies as possible."

"And, as Optimus Prime's counterpart," Chromia drawled as though she had memorised this speech, "you have to have see it first-hand, right?"

"Right."

"You ARE aware that a few clicks on the other side of the fortress is Wheeljack's team, right?" Chromia said, "We're not the only ones in the area to keep an eye on them."

"Mirage is coming," announced Arcee suddenly.

"Look, Arcee, you've got to-"

"No, really. Look."

Sure enough, driving towards them was sleek sporty Mirage who, judging by his partially transparent form, had only just emerged from stealth mode. He slowed to a stop in front of them and flashed his headlights in greeting.

"Nothing gets past your keen vision, does it, Arcee?" he said jovially, transforming into his bi-pedal robot mode.

"It's a skill I've learnt over the deca-cycles," Arcee smiled, holding out her hand to greet him by touch as she was in the habit of doing, "Did you drive all the way over here?"

Mirage was on Wheeljack's team, stationed, as Chromia had said, over a fair few miles over on the other side of the fortress. He came forward and took Arcee's misleadingly delicate hand in a gentleman-like fashion (it was their version of a handshake).

"Yeah, broke the speed limit," he replied and glanced guiltily at Elita-One, "Don't tell Optimus."

Elita rose to her feet. "What's happening?" she asked in a businesswoman's voice.

"Well, ma'am," Mirage answered, holding his hands down by his sides like a soldier, "we're sending out teams to find and warn the Predacons at the moment but the more worrying issue is that we can't get a hold of Grimlock. They've not been responding to any of our hailing frequencies and no-one can get a fix on where they've gone."

"Well they're not in there," said Chromia, gesturing towards the fortress, "We've been keeping an eye on it for a few weeks and there's no Dinobots around."

"You say that but for all our hours of staking it out, we're no closer to working out where the entrances to the fortress are," Elita couldn't help but say, hiding her frustration behind her serenely beautiful face.

"Guess you'd just have to call up Megatron and flat out ask him if you get desperate enough," Arcee shrugged, hands on hips.

Mirage nodded. "Optimus might just try that," he said, recalling a conversation between Ratchet and Wheeljack, "I think he's intending to cooperate with Megatron if the Quintessons make it this far."

Arcee grit her features and shuddered. "Those freaks are too stubborn to give up on something they want," she huffed.

"Makes you wonder if they really _did_ have a hand in creating us," Chromia half-heartedly joked.

Half-heartedly, mind, because no-one liked entertaining that idea at all. As far as they were all concerned, Primus was their sole creator and their birth by means of the AllSpark was what connected them to their home planet on a deep spiritual level.

"Wait..." Elita-One murmured, her optics narrowing and her voice deepening, " _ **What**_ is Optimus intending to do?"

Mirage opened his mouth before reasoning he was better off shutting up and he looked down at his feet, abashed.

"He's going to _join forces_ with Megatron?"

"Well," Mirage murmured quietly, "'cooperate' was the word Ratchet used but-"

Elita wasn't going to listen. She turned around and leapt forward, elegantly transforming into her alt-mode in one sweeping dive and zooming away towards her base.

"Oh here we go," Chromia groaned, "Arcee, you finish getting the down-lo from Mirage and I'll see you back at base." Then she was off and running after her leader, not to stop her but just to watch the entertainment.

* * *

The latest update from Cosmos was that the Quintessons were making progress and had almost reached Saturn.

Optimus rubbed his face, trying to work out what the best course of action would be. His favoured opinion was that the best way to deal with the Quintessons without harming Earth was to confront the enemy in space. But, of course, even if he could rally the Autobots from all around the planet and fire up the Ark once more in time to meet the Quintessons, they would still be outnumbered and outgunned; the Ark was intended for transport, not battle.

Again and again, Optimus' thoughts drifted to the Decepticons.

They had a warship which thrived in battle and if they could be convinced to work with them it would even things out dramatically. It would be a risky gamble and Optimus knew his Autobots would _not_ be happy...

Teletrann-1 began to chime again.

"Who's calling _now_?" Ironhide asked. It seemed as though communications weren't going to stop while they were under potential invasion.

Jazz, sat at the computer, studied the details of the incoming call and suddenly began to cough and choke, practically falling out of his seat and crawling in an undignified fashion towards the nearest door.

"Wowee! Crazy how I find myself rememberin' something that I need to do somewhere else all of a sudden," he called and as he slithered by Optimus' feet, he put out a hand and patted his leg, "I'll leave this one up to you, man."

There on the screen, in bold Cybertronian lettering, flashed: **Elita-One**.

"Oh, some First Lieutenant you are, Jazz!" Ironhide laughed after Jazz's retreating figure on the floor, "The Autobot Second-In-Command? Autobot First-Out-The-Door more like! I'm sure Prime is full of confidence to know that you've got his back through thick and thin."

A faint voice echoed down the corridor: "Be the man I never was, 'hide. They'll sing songs about you!"

"Okay, Prime, you got this. Eye of the Predacon," Ironhide said, taking Optimus' shoulders and steering him to the computer, "Try not to dribble on yourself when you see her. You're the _Prime_. Gotta keep up appearances. Pretend Alpha Trion is in the room. Pretend _Megatron_ is the room. Pretend everyone's in the room. Autobots, Decepticons, others... We're ALL in the room."

"Oddly enough, that's not helping," Optimus murmured.

"Right here with you, buddy," Ironhide said, clapping Optimus' back, "Right here with you. Over there. I'm here with you but I'm over there." Ironhide had removed himself to the back of the room, out of sight. "Over here. I'm right over here."

Fighting the urge to glare at him, Optimus sat down, steeling himself for what was to come.

On the other end of the line could either be an angry Elita-One or a very happy, really wanting to speak to 'bae' Elita-One.

Praying to Primus that it was happy, lovey-dovey Elita, Optimus opened the channel and felt his spark lovingly sigh as Elita's face appeared on screen.

" _You are NOT considering aligning with Megatron are you_?" she scolded.

It seemed as though Primus wasn't going to throw Optimus a lifeline today.

The Prime rested his chin in his hands and, looking like a love-struck puppy, shyly smiled at the femme. "...You look beautiful."

" _It's too risky_!" Elita pressed on, " _What if he wants to meet in person? You can't expect a small group of you to stand your own against all his Decepticons if it turns out to be a trick. Oh and as an add-on to that - Bumblebee isn't going anywhere near that tyrant, understood? Now you wait for me, Optimus, and I'm being serious. I'll leave tonight so I can be with you if you really are going to go through with the idea that you and Megatron can work together_."

Optimus raised an eyebrow. Since when was Elita telepathic?

"But... I'm not _going_ to meet with Megatron," he said quietly, "I haven't even called him. How did you find out?"

" _We're Autobots, honey_ ," Elita sighed and smiled back at him for the first time, " _We talk. When were you thinking of telling_ me?"

"After I contacted Megatron, I would have contacted you."

"You would have promised that?"

"I would have sworn on the Matrix that resides within me, Elita."

She narrowed her eyes and scrutinised the innocent face that looked back at her. For a Prime, Optimus could certainly do the 'cute' face quite well. There wasn't any point in asking where Bumblebee had got it from.

 _"...Okay..."_ she gave him, unable to resist him when he looked like that, " _So I hear we can't make contact with Grimlock_?"

"Still nothing," Optimus said, shaking his head, "We'll have to put together a team to find them."

" _I might be able to help with that. I can think of a few potential Dinobot hunters_."

"I just don't want our forces to be scattered if the Quintessons arrive before we are ready for them."

Elita made a humming noise. _"...Hence the reason why you've considered Megatron_."

"I haven't... Okay, fine, I admit, I _have_ considered Megatron. But I'm only trying to-"

" _It's okay, Optimus. I understand. Wouldn't be much of a leader myself if I didn't, now would I_?"

"So... you're happy with me calling Megatron?"

" _Happy? No. But if you're going to do it then do it. Just don't meet with him without me. I want to be there_."

Optimus laughed. "I'm not looking to frighten Megatron into helping us, Elita. Hello Chromia." In the background of Elita's screen, the blue fembot awkwardly waved but continued to hover, peering into Optimus' background expectantly. "But, yes, I will let you know as soon as I've made contact with the Decepticons."

" _So long as you keep me up to date_ ," Elita said, exchanging giggles with Optimus as Ironhide now began to drift on screen, mimicking Chromia's behaviour as they looked for each other.

"That's a promise," Optimus nodded.

That's when Bumblebee came rushing in, having heard a familiar voice and he clambered into Optimus' lap.

"Elita!" he grinned.

Upon catching sight of the small yellow Autobot, Elita's face melted into a soft smile.

" _Bumblebee_!" she crooned, for she was _immensely_ fond of the youngster, " _You've got bigger_!"

"Hmm yes," Optimus grunted, raising a stern eyebrow at his small charge, "bigger and sneakier. Tell Elita-One how many humans you have, Bumblebee. Go on."

Bumblebee looked down at his hands, embarrassed.

" _Oh, Bee_..." Elita sighed, " _You haven't got more have you? Optimus been spoiling you again_?"

"Me?" cried Optimus indignantly, "No, it's him! Go on, you tell Elita what's happened."

So Bumblebee, fiddling with his fingers, revealed the truth, "...I have five humans and two of them had a baby so that's six humans now."

" _Six!?"_

"See, Spike had a mate and her name's Carly by the way and they had a baby and he's called Daniel."

"Fantastic," Optimus groaned, "they've now got names."

"And Raf is a little one and he was the newest before Daniel and he's small too..."

"Bumblebee," Optimus then interrupted with a smirk, "I know you want to talk to Elita but I think Ironhide's been hovering..."

* * *

Earth was actually a very strange planet despite how many people out in the universe claimed it was dull and boring. The humans of planet Earth were frequently running away from the diversity of weird and wonderful mechanical beasts that seemed to pop out from nowhere and today was no exception as a troop of large metal dinosaurs came stomping and shuffling through the forest.

Grimlock, the leader of the team, wasn't up front this time and instead took second in the small procession, letting Sludge the long-neck dinobot take the front spot seeing as he was the current perch for Swoop the Pterosaur who was scanning the area back and forth and ignoring the chatter going on behind him.

"Personally," Slash the Raptor-bot was saying with some degree of heat in her voice, "I think they did him a dirty. He should have lived."

"Yeah but it gave us that iconic line from the movie, didn't it?" Slug the Triceratops pointed out to the right of her.

"Well, he still could have made that line iconic without dying. There were plenty of iconic lines said by characters who survived to the end."

Snarl the Stegosaurus, on the other side of Slug, threw in his two cents worth. "You know he lived in the book, don't you?"

Slug rolled his eyes and shook his horned head. "Yeah with, like, ZERO mention of him in the second book."

Grimlock turned his large head round to face them. "What you talking about?" he asked.

" _Jurassic Park_ ," Slug replied, "You know the Robert Muldoon character? Raptor dude who said 'Clever Girl' before he got jumped and killed?"

"I'm telling you, they did him a dirty!" Slash protested, "The least they could have done was have whats-his-name Grady to go back and get his hat in the newer films. Muldoon was a great character. Seemed to have the most brains out of everyone who worked there."

"Speaking of brains..." Snarl smiled and glanced up at Sludge's head, "Have you found yours yet, Swoop?"

Shaking his wings indignantly, Swoop clacked his metal beak. "I'm never wrong!" he called down to them, "I saw a Predacon."

Slug's optics lit up and he started to skip on his four legs, dancing and singing:  
" _Swoop the bird was nev-er wrong,_  
 _One day he saw a Pred-a-con,_  
 _He went to see,_  
 _Where it could be,_  
 _But the blasted thing had gone_!"

"Needs work, Slug," Sludge told him but was silenced by a low T-Rex growl behind him.

"Shhhhh! Me Grimlock hear something."

Everyone froze in place and listened intently to the forest symphony of creatures around them. Grimlock took a few careful steps forward, peeking around trees and tilting his head one way and then another, eventually zeroing in on the noise he heard.

All together, the group of Dinobots stretched out their necks and one by one peered through the bushes and shrubs to catch sight of a peculiar little creature on the other side, busy tapping away on a small device. It had a long head and pinching eyes and didn't seem to be of earth at all.

"What's that?" asked Snarl in a whisper.

"Not a human," Grimlock replied.

"Well it doesn't look like one of us," Slash shuddered, "It's got organic stuff on it."

"Oooh think it's a Predacon? Or another kind of Beast Machine!" Swoop asked with shining eyes, "They get organic modes sometimes."

"Yeah," Snarl shrugged, "could be some sort of... I dunno... Squid-bot or something."

"So then is it Autobot or Decepticon?" Slug asked.

"Hope it's not Autobot," Sludge said, "I don't want it on our team."

Grimlock straightened up. "Me Grimlock will go find out," he announced and off he went, trying small, not so stampy steps.

Swoop puffed up his chest. "Told you I saw a Predacon," he chortled.

Slash tapped her foot claws. "You saw THAT thing?"

Swoop studied it thoughtfully. "...Pretty sure it was flying but, who knows," he shrugged, "Maybe that creature has hidden wings."

Meanwhile, their Tyrannosaur leader had emerged from the forest to greet this odd stranger. "Hey!" he called, trying not to roar, "Me Grimlock. Who are you?"

The creature, unbeknown to them, was a low ranking Quintesson science assistant who had come in a small scout ship with two sharkticons. It was not equipped nor prepared to deal with any form of large metal Dinobot and to prove this, it fled in the opposite direction with a scream.

"Aw, you scared it, Grim," Slash pouted, sticking her head through the bush.

"Maybe try your robot mode next time," Snarl suggested, "Or someone with less teeth can go."

"I should have gone," Slug smiled, "Everyone loves a triceratops."

"Not many love a triceratops coming towards them with three killer spikes pointing in their direction though," Sludge retorted. "Swoop," he then said, looking up at his unusual head accessory, "are you sure it was THAT thing that you saw?"

Swoop spread his wings and hopped off Sludge's head, gliding to the ground beside Grimlock. "...Now that you mention it," he admitted in a quiet voice, "it might not have been that one."

Grimlock curled in his head and briskly transformed back into his robot mode. "Me Grimlock will call Optimus," he said.

"Good idea," Slug agreed, following suit and also transforming, "We can ask him if we've recently recruited a squid."

Grimlock looked round at the group as they each transformed. "Who have phone?"

There was a moment's silence as each pair of optics slowly turned to land on the Pteranodon.

"Uh..." Swoop gulped, "I think we've left it back at base."

A collective groan was shared between them.

"Me Grimlock tell you to bring phone!" Grimlock cried, "Bring phone!"

"Me Swoop was busy finding Predacon!"

" _What_ Predacon?" Snarl said, waving his hands around the empty clearing.

"Wait, _I_ brought the phone!" Slug announced, taking out a device before looking at it properly and discretely hiding it behind him, "...No, no I didn't. Never mind. This is... I don't even know what this is."

"Me Grimlock say we go home," Grimlock huffed, not impressed.

"Agreed," Sludge nodded, "Lead the way Grim."

Grimlock looked to his right. Then to his left. He glanced over his shoulder. He took a glance up at the sky. He scratched his head and spun around. Then he put his hands on his hips.

"...Who know where home is?"

"Har har, hilarious," Slash groaned, "Can we go already? I'm tired."

"...Me Grimlock being serious. What way is base?"

Now it was the rest of the Dinobots that grew silent, looking left and right up and up and down and spinning around like a badly choreographed dance routine.

After a while of concentrating, Sludge said with a frown, "The base's homing beacon is faulty. It's not reading right."

"Ohhh...!" Slug then quietly announced, " _That's_ what this is. Why does the homing beacon look so much like the phone?"

"Great!" Snarl cried, "We're lost!"

"Not lost!" Grimlock said firmly and transformed back into a Tyrannosaur, "Me Grimlock find home. How hard can it be?"

* * *

 **Writer's Note - Thank you for everyone who continues to support this story! The plot will be taking off next chapter so stay tuned. -Duma**


	7. Chapter Seven And A Seeker Problem

**Writer's Note - Apologies for a long wait but we seemed to have random internet problems which have, as you may have guessed, been corrected. To compensate for the delay, this chapter is a little longer.**

* * *

 _[QUINTESSA LOG THAT NO-ONE KNOWS ABOUT - #16]_

 _"Time has lost all meaning. It has been days, weeks, months and possibly two years since we lost Sharkticon-56. His family have been informed. Many aboard the ship believe that we shall see Sharkiton-56 again one day. That soon we will be reunited but, alas, it can only appear to be but a foolish dream. There's a reason Sharkticon-56 was awarded the 'Hide and Seek Champion' for his seventh consecutive year. In other news, we received word from Earth. Inquirata's lab assistant has reported in at last but his message was unintelligible. It was decided among us that the constant screaming could only mean that something had gone wrong and we're all very sure that the idiot is dead now. Inquirata was devastated by the news; he was so violently thrown into shock that he spontaneously forgot his lab assistant's name and even claimed that he couldn't recall ever having a lab assistant in the first place. The rest of us, however, are faring better since we're expected to reach planet Earth right on time. It will only be a matter of time before we are reunited with our prodigal creations and we are eager to see how far they have progressed. Our only worry is that we have yet to decide a plan of action. It is a comfort to know that the Cybertronians have no idea we're coming."_

* * *

The expected and completely anticipated arrival of the Quintessons was drawing nearer and nearer. If the story had a musical score, their ships may have been accompanied by the theme of _Jaws_ or, perhaps more appropriately, the Imperial March from _Star Wars_. Anything ominous and threatening, really.

Fortunately, however, for the awaiting Cybertronians on Earth, they could hear nothing and therefore had been able to concentrate on preparing for the would-be arrival.

Which meant, in Optimus Prime's case, finally making the call that he had been putting off for over a month.

It was incredible how easy it was to procrastinate around the issue and after watching fifty or so cat videos, playing a game, browsing Ebay, buying something he didn't need off Ebay, checking his inbox, looking at funny pictures and still not understanding what on earth a 'meme' was, Optimus sent a call to Megatron. The line twinkled and chirped a merry tune for a bit before cutting to what sounded like Soundwave putting on an accent.

" _Please hold. Your call is important to us. Thank you for contacting the Decepticons._ " Then there was ten seconds of heavy metal scream music. " _Please hold. Your call is important to us. Thank you for contacting the Decepticons_."

Optimus leant back in his chair, arms folded over his chest, optics glazed and looking, overall, thoroughly unimpressed.

" _Please hold. Your call is important-_ "

"You can bet your metal tin can of a backside it is, Soundwave, now pass me on to Megatron!"

The heavy metal music stopped and the screen now flickered on to show Soundwave's sulky face.

"Optimus Prime: Can't take a joke," he mumbled.

"And you, Soundwave, can't _make_ a joke. Now I wasn't sparked yesterday - Decepticons don't have answering machines. Get Megatron on the line," Optimus sighed.

Just before Soundwave was about to give the leader of the Autobots a very rude hand sign, the screen flickered again and changed to show Megatron's beaming face instead.

"Ah Optimus!" he greeted, "Always happy to hear from you, my friend. Come to negotiate the terms of your immediate surrender?"

Optimus rested his elbows on the desk in front of him and glowered at the face on screen. "I am almost tempted to say that I am if only to see your reaction, but you know that is not true."

Megatron dropped his broad smile but kept a very slight smirk on. "No," he replied, "I know why you've contacted me. You think the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"You've been calling me your friend for centuries," Optimus told him, "In fact, you just called me that 30 seconds ago!"

Megatron's face seemed to imply that he wanted to rewind the last few moments so as to correct himself.

"You make an intriguing point and I'll be sure to bear that in mind now let's hear your pitch already - I've got other problems to deal with."

"Problems that don't involve Autobots or Quintessons?"

"Shockingly, our lives don't always revolve around each other, Optimus, as much as we'd both love them to."

"Well, you could have fooled me. I'm sure I don't remember chasing YOU across the universe when we left Cybertron."

"We were looking for energon! And we just happened to be looking for it in the same places as you."

"Did you _want_ to hear what I have to say, Megatron?"

Megatron rolled his eyes. "A proposed alliance between Autobot and Decepticon to fend off the threat of the Quintessons."

"When you say it so bluntly, it sounds much less thrilling," Optimus pouted behind his mask. He often activated his mouth piece when talking to Megatron because he wanted to appear as unreadable to the Decepticon leader as possible. It made him look more warrior-like. More Prime-like. Not Orion Pax-ey.

"Try looking at it from my point of view Optimus," Megatron then said, "Here I am, safely protected beneath the strongest battleship ever created, in my impenetrable and completely weaponised fortress which is teaming with my highly trained Decepticon armies. Then there's a feeble _tap tap_ at my door-"

"What 'door'?"

"-and there's this tiny little Iaconian squatting outside with a rag-tag collection of Cybertron _nobodies_ hanging off his tailpipe who seem to think that it's in our best interest to accept their help because SOMEHOW that will tilt the odds of success in our favour." He slammed his hand on his own desk and chortled loudly. "Well rejection stings, doesn't it, _Prime_. It really does burn!"

Optimus could not look more deadpan if he tried and he couldn't even fathom the concept of emotion. "You've been waiting a long time to have this conversation, haven't you?"

"Just tell me," Megatron barked, "what have you got to offer us that we don't already have?"

Optimus Prime leant forward and clicked his fingers, ready to get down to business.

"You've created an error in making yourself into one giant target, Megatron," he warned, "My Autobots can be found all over this planet so _if_ a time came when you think you've rid yourself of all of us, you'll never be sure. We may have come from humble beginnings but the Autobots are as every bit as warrior class as you are."

The threat was there for Megatron to take in whatever way he wanted. In the end, however, all he could muster was, "...Haven't seen your Dinobots in a while."

"Haven't seen your Seekers, either."

"Touche."

* * *

The next order of business was, of course, to meet with the tyrannical Decepticon and that was an appointment that took longer to make for Optimus had remembered that Elita had made him promise to include her. The meeting with Megatron took place at a mid-way point between the Decepticon fortress, the Ark and the Femmes' base (because that was the most conveinient for all of them).

Elita-One was first on the scene, arms folded, legs spaced and an expression that was set to kill.

"Where's Bumblebee?" was her first question.

"Don't worry," Optimus assured her, "he's back at the Ark with Ratchet."

"Hmm," Elita murmured, "So long as you're sure they can't locate the Ark..."

"I'm sure," Optimus smiled, taking her hand in greeting, "Bumblebee is quite safe."

"Us, on the other hand," Jazz muttered, nodding his head towards the sky.

Like the 11th plague, Megatron and a handful of Decepticons (Stunitcons they turned out to be) descended upon them, attempting to create as extravagant an entrance as possible complete with hands on hips and inflated chests.

"Congratulations, Prime," Megatron greeted, "You've coaxed me from my throne with your piteous petitions."

Optimus Prime, with Ironhide and Jazz either side of him and Elita-One watching his back, nodded a greeting back at him.

"I won't lie, Megatron," he admitted, "I almost expected you to refuse a meeting. Very trusting of you to leave your fortress considering you didn't want to risk us finding out where your base's weak points are."

"Well, let's be realistic here," Megatron shrugged, "If we're going to be fighting a battle against Quintessons, we shall need to pool our resources, won't we? Can't do that unless we open our base to you."

"Yer willing to let us cruise through your fortress?" Jazz said, cocking an eyebrow from behind his shades.

Megatron felt his mouth tug into a grimace at the cool, laid-back aura that the Autobot First Lieutenant seemed to give off.

"Some of you, maybe," he murmured, "We have house rules, after all." The Decepticon then tilted his head to look over Optimus' shoulder and caught sight of a stern, powder pink face. "...Elita-One?" he smiled, "What a pleasant surprise! And of course, that lovely face of yours has barely corroded with age. It's been a long time since I last saw you."

"I'm only sorry you _have_ had to see me," Elita seethed, "It's not been long enough."

Megatron blinked at her and then nervously laughed, wondering, not for the first time, why and how Optimus Prime and Elita-One had come to the conclusion that they'd make ideal lifelong companions.

"Let's make this as brief as possible for both our sakes," Optimus was saying, bringing Megatron out of his bizarre daydream of how Optimus Prime and Elita-One had met as Orion Pax and Ariel, "A select group of Autobots and myself will accompany you back to your fortress to decide on our tactics. I presume we will be permitted entrance to the Nemesis? Along with the Ark, I believe the two ships will-"

"Until further notice," Megatron quickly interrupted, "the Nemesis is off-limits to everyone."

The Autobots exchanged confused looks.

"Everyone?"

"Including Cons?" Jazz asked, taking a glance at the Stunticons who were standing quietly and kicking the dry soil underneath their feet.

"It is only a temporary arrangement, I can assure you," Megatron told them, avoiding eye contact. "For the benefit of my Seekers."

"Benefit?" Ironhide echoed incredulously, "Since when do you spoil Starscream?"

Megatron glowered at Ironhide. "It is _strictly_ confidential business that I won't be telling the likes of some gun-toting shadow of Optimus Prime."

Jazz winced and glanced at Ironhide who cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"Say that again so I have an excuse when I send a fist through your faceplates," he muttered and then felt a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Ironhide, steady," Optimus told him and then to Megatron said, "I take it, however, that Starscream will be present for a tactical discussion? Against the Quintessons, aerial assault will be-"

"Starscream is unlikely to be there, he is unwell."

Megatron spoke so quickly that it took the Autobots a few seconds to try and work out what he had said.

"Unwell?" Elita frowned.

"He's unlikely to be there," Megatron coughed awkwardly, "The Seekers are unlikely to be ready in time for the Quintessons."

"What do you mean by 'unwell'?" Jazz asked.

"Say that again but slowly," Optimus said, confused, "What, _exactly_ , is wrong with Starscream?"

Megatron let out a long sigh. "...He and his Seeker Armarda haven't flown in several weeks," he explained in a slower voice. "They... get twitchy when they can't fly."

"So you went and turned your prized Aerial Combat Team into a bunch of lunatics," Ironhide laughed, "Of course you did. SUCH a Decepticon move."

"May I remind you," Megatron retorted, "that you Autobots are to blame for their current mental state? If you hadn't forced me to-"

"Oh and there it is," Jazz interrupted with a shake of the head, "We're playin' the 'Blame' card this round. We ain't the ones who forget t' maintain our bots, man. I mean, the Aerialbots like a good fly but they don't get uppity about it. If _we_ 'ad Seekers, we'd have some kinda Flight Room set up for emergencies."

"...Shockwave is sorting that as we speak."

"If we can finish pointing fingers at each other some time soon, that would be appreciated," Optimus then intervened, hoping he was presenting an impressive figure for Elita-One. But before he could continue on with the discussion, another voice joined them from Megatron's comms which were left on loudspeaker.

"... _Lord Megatron?"_

"Speaking of the Virus..." Ironhide smiled.

Megatron turned away in and removed himself from the immediate circle to take the call.

" _This...this is Shockwave...calling Mega_ -"

"Yes, alright Shockwave," Megatron answered, "What's your report? I hope you're closer to finishing that room."

Shockwave cleared his throat. "... _Well, technically... I mean... Yes, Lord Megatron_."

"So," Megatron prompted expectantly, "what's the expected finishing time?"

Shockwave hesitated before replying. "... _Well... You see... That depends_."

Megatron didn't bother to say anything. He waited until the silence made it obvious enough that Shockwave wasn't going to get a response. So the scientist cleared his throat again.

" _On... certain factors_ ," he finished.

Megatron's voice became hard and emotionless. "I find myself lacking patience, Shockwave so I'll try and put this clearly: I am in need of two things if we're to defend ourselves against the Quintessons. The first is my Warship and the second thing I need is my perfectly sane and perfectly functioning squadron of Seekers. Now my chances of acquiring either of those are completely dependent on _when you finish that flight room_."

There was a brief pause.

"... _I have excellent news, Megatron_ ," Shockwave told him, " _The Nemesis Warship is yours to utilise_."

That took Megatron by surprise. "What?" he frowned, "But you said... so you _have_ finished it?"

Shockwave gave his own equivalent of a nervous laugh.

" _N-No, my Lord. The room isn't_..." He stopped and admitted defeat. Why try and talk his way around the situation any further? " _The Seekers have escaped_ ," he announced flatly, " _I've lost them_."

* * *

An explanation, of course, had to be given and Shockwave's story went as follows:

Since the evacuation of the Deecpticons from the Nemesis and the imprisonment of the Seekers, Shockwave had grown used to the constant banging and screeching and scraping at his door and the string of threats and insults that were sung every evening and every morning. Eventually though, after a few more days (possibly a week) had passed, the Seekers seemed to dissipate and their noise grew less.

It wasn't the relieving comfort that Shockwave wanted, however, as their sudden silence could only mean that Psychosis had come upon them and they were now roaming the warship as savage predators in the hunt for something to channel their frustration. If Shockwave so much as touched the door of his workshop, he could sense something hissing on the other side, daring him to come out.

Priority 1 was, of course, build a fully functioning Flight Room so he could fix the Seekers, return the Warship to the rest of the Decepticons, appease Megatron and restore his treacherous, back-stabbing, cunning weasel of a First Lieutenant to him. Looking up from his secondary project, Shockwave wondered why he even bother with Starscream; cure the other Seekers, certainly, but where was the harm in leaving Starscream as a gibbering lunatic that slithered around on his tummy like the snake he was?

 _Illogical_ , Shockwave had then concluded, _Starscream possesses some needed skills for the cause._

And anyway, Megatron needed _someone_ to blame when things went wrong. If Megatron didn't have his favourite punching bag around, he'd find other ways to vent his anger and Shockwave didn't fancy the chances that he and Soundwave would get away unharmed. In many ways, the pair of them owed a lot to Starscream: he diverted their Master's violence so they could remain shiny and undented.

That being said, the Room's progress wasn't quite as swift as Shockwave would have liked which (he believed) wasn't his fault seeing that, as the Decepticon's Chief Science Officer, he had a thousand other projects he was working on at the same time. Such as this one: a miniature droid that would scoot around the corridors with a camera to see what the Seekers were up to and to see what state they were in.

There was no way he was planning on going to check on them himself; it had been well over a month since the Seekers had last flown.

Out through the vents went the droid that Shockwave built, tootling out into the corridor and doing a quick scan while Shockwave observed everything from the safety of his workspace.

At first, there didn't appear to be anything outside his door. It was the same metal plated, poorly lit walkway that it usually was with the same piping running across the ceiling and the same scratched floor below.

Until, that is, Shockwave looked closer and saw two dimmed red optics peering at the droid from the shadow of the far corner bulkhead, crouched down where Shockwave's door was in full view. It was hard to make out from the gloom but Shockwave was convinced it was Red Wing, the Seekers' weapon specialist, the one with the mutated optics that allowed him to see great distances.

Living up to his name, Red Wing was bright red all over. It made things a little easier for that meant the probability that there were two other Seekers nearby were slim seeing as Red Wing was one of the four Seekers that had no trine: Red Wing, Nacelle, Slipstream and Wheezing Arrow. Red Wing's trine had been killed back on Cybertron.

It was a peculiar set-up and one that Shockwave took a private interest in: when a Seeker lost a member of its Trine, it could be amended by integrating a new member but when a Seeker lost _both_ members of its Trine, either due to death or abandonment, it had to rely solely on another complete Trine as what was known as a 'safeguard', the spare set of wings. Should a complete Trine lose a member, either temporarily or permanently, a safeguard was called upon to take the place of the missing member, ensuring that the most strategic formation of the three-point triangle was kept. In return for such a crucial role, the Trine would protect and support the safeguard as an adopted younger sibling, for want of a better description, taking care of them as its previous Trine would have done before.

However the formations of Trines were a deeply rooted tradition and, for this reason, a safeguard couldn't hope to share in the close kinship that existed between an original Trine which meant that safeguard Seekers kept themselves to themselves usually and wandered about alone - and that's what Shockwave was counting on.

Red Wing's Safeguard Trine were the Attack Trine, also known as the Coneheads: Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust.

None of them appeared to be around but Red Wing hadn't taken his eyes off Shockwave's droid which was unsettling. Because it wasn't the droid that Red Wing was lurking about and waiting for - it was the Decepticon Scientist inside his future Flight Room.

" _They've most certainly suffered processor damage,_ " Shockwave couldn't help but think proudly, " _for no Decepticon would ever think of taking me on by themselves. Certainly not a lone flier._ "

The droid began to move off as Shockwave directed, mentally ticking off one Seeker.

Red Wing didn't move. He stared after the droid as though his dumb mind wasn't registering it as something to be curious about which struck Shockwave as odd seeing as Seekers were notoriously curious by nature.

" _Perhaps he's been stationed there to keep an eye on the door,_ " Shockwave shuddered. " _To let them know when I emerge from hiding._ " A chilling thought, to be sure.

Soon Red Wing was left behind (" _with me_ ," Shockwave pointed out) and the dark monotony of the Nemesis corridors began to slowly roll by the camera feed, revealing nothing in the way of indicating where Red Wing's brethren were hiding. Audio feed told Shockwave that there was an occasional _clank_ and _scraaaape_ somewhere in the Nemesis but there wasn't anything to suggest what was making those sounds.

Besides the odd flash of shadow darting over a light, of course.

Which wasn't creepy at all.

For several minutes, Shockwave's poor droid trundled through corridor after corridor, not picking up anything until, at last, a slender, lithe figure appeared at the end of the corridor junction from the left. Strangely, it appeared to be moving on all-fours, it's long limbs stepping gracefully and slowly as it crept around the corridor, freezing upon catching sight of the unusual stranger in its way.

It took Shockwave three seconds to register the appearance of the bright green Seeker and assign a name to its configuration: Acid Storm, Head of the Covert Trine, also known as the Rainmakers. Mutation: ability to manipulate the atmosphere of a planet to induce a build up of acidic moisture. Megatron loved sending the Rainmakers out over an Autobot target and have them generate acid rain down on them all. Of course, it was always a risky move as it could unintentionally damage any nearby Decepticon troops at the same time.

Acid Storm growled at the unknown droid and he tilted his wings (which appeared to be trembling) to indicate a level of irritation. A moment later, two other Seekers appeared alongside, one on all fours like Acid Storm and the other crouched on two legs. That was the problem with Seekers - they rarely travelled alone.

The Rainmaker Left Wing, Ion Storm, who had the mutated ability to generate and manipulate lightning bolts of electricity, was the first to creep up to the droid and give it a poke while the Right Wing, Nova Storm, with the mutated armour that was able to withstand volcanic temperatures and briefly (only briefly) enter the _second layer of a star's atmosphere_ , hung back uncertainly.

"You can flit through the chromosphere of a star - _**A STAR**_ \- but you're not sure of a wedge of metal with a camera?" Shockwave couldn't help but mutter to himself.

He could now see, thanks to Ion Storm coming up close, that all the Rainmakers, not just Acid Storm, appeared to have tremors - brief shakes that might appear to be a form of shivering but one that caused them to lose balance momentarily. As though confirming this, a violent shiver ran through Nova Storm's body which sent the Seeker toppling into the wall and letting out a yip of distress. Psychosis had made the Rainmakers jumpy it seemed because at the cry from Nova Storm, the other two shot to their feet with wide optics and bolted down the hallway, Nova Storm following swiftly, apparently not realising what it was that had caused the shared panic.

4 Seekers accounted for and, if the Rainmakers were fleeing to the safety of their flock, Shockwave was certain he could check off the rest of the Seekers before long if he gave chase. Not literal chase, of course. The droid could only tootle along so fast and after the next two bends, it was quite apparent that Shockwave had lost the Rainmakers.

Or he thought he had.

They may have been losing their minds...but the Seekers were cunning. They were still part of a flock and a flock worked together.

Just when Shockwave was about to admit that he couldn't see any of the three Rainmakers, the camera feed suddenly started to pop and flashes of white and black flittered across the screen as the audio crackled. Shockwave frowned and started to test his equipment...but no, everything was fine on his end. The problem had to be where the droid was.

And it was peculiar because the interference with the camera feed was a classic indication of...

A golden hand descended in front of the camera, claws spread like a spider, and another crackle pulsated through the audio.

...radiation.

Sunstorm, hovering over the camera on its hands and feet, opened his mouth and emitted a quiet hiss as he studied this unusual robot. It was no Decepticon. He couldn't detect a life sign from it and there was certainly no spark to be heard. It was a mindless machine which meant that it could only have come from that room. The room where Shockwave was hiding. Sunstorm let out another hiss and nudged the droid with its free hand in an attempt to get a response but the droid only slid a few centimetres and didn't do anything more.

The Rainmakers were getting more jumpy, more fleet of foot, as their processors wore more and more thin but to run from such a pathetic jumble of bolts such as this...

There was a _CLANG_! as Hotlink suddenly dropped down from nowhere right in front of the droid, his wings twitching excitedly as he produced a gargle of unintelligent noise.

 _What'cha get? New toy? Cans have it?_ Hotlink reached out a claw and patted at the top of the droid, looking even more pleased when the camera bot didn't move. _Cans have it? Mine?_

Sunstorm reached his hand to Hotlink, waving the other Seeker back with his radioactive heat. _Not yours. Not yours._ He then lowered his head and stared straight into the camera. _Shockwave._

On the other end of the camera feed, the visual was flashing and pulsing from the mutated radioactive core that burned in Sunstorm's spark chamber and the audio was popping louder and louder but Shockwave could still see and hear everything. He stepped back from Sunstorm's critical red eye that now filled the camera.

Sunstorm was the Trine head of the Support Trine and Hotlink, the Seeker who had the unusual mutated ability to produce cyber-matter from his own energon lines, was Sunstorm's Right Wing. Bitstream, the third member of the trine, could be nearby but from what Shockwave could recall of that particular Seeker it wasn't a sure thing.

Bitstream's mutation gave him the phenomenal ability to hack virtually any computer on a scale that Soundwave could barely fathom, to the point where Bitstream could transfer his conscious AI to that of the computer itself, entering its mainframe on a personal level. The danger with that, of course, was that it was easy to 'lose' Bitstream.

If he wasn't with Sunstorm and Hotlink, he could be found at the nearest computer terminal. Shockwave was just about to mull over the idea of trying to find him when he suddenly realised that Sunstorm had pulled his head away from the camera to reveal the addition of yet more Seekers.

There was Bitstream - looking more interested in the lights above them than the actual droid. Alongside him was Nacelle, the Seeker with the mutated wings which didn't allow him to fly as well as the others could, the primary reason he had never formed a Trine back on Cybertron. He was the Safeguard for the Support Trine and to Shockwave's surprise, Nacelle was actually speaking.

"...-ming to investigate. Yes. I've come from that room to this corridor. Yes, I've done that. Interesting. Very interesting. Shockwave still making things. Yes. All very interesting. Yes..."

Shockwave started a little when he suddenly heard a scraping noise against his door. Red Wing was obviously getting bored of sitting there quietly with nothing to do. In the momentary distraction, Shockwave didn't notice that, on the camera feed, more red optics were emerging from the gloom of the corridor behind Nacelle and Bitstream, menacingly watching: an angry looking Wheezing Arrow, a shaky collection of Rainmakers, Dirge and Thrust who both looked like silent zombies and then Slipstream, purring away to herself.

"...-atching. Watching. Watching us. Yes..." went Nacelle's quiet self-narrative.

Slipstream was the last to approach. She was crouched on bended knees, her wings stretched back to balance her as she crept forward, tilting her head left and right as she eyed the camera lens suspiciously.

 _Is mine? Is mine?_ Hotlink was chittering.

Sunstorm had positioned himself further over the droid and the sudden flare of crackling caused Shockwave to return his attention to the screen, unsettled upon seeing the addition of the others.

Red Wing he knew to be outside his door still but he couldn't, however, see any sign of Ramjet or Starscream or Thundercracker or Skywarp. The camera did a 360 scope and revealed nothing except for the fact that Ion Storm was now shakily circling the droid and Slipstream was reaching out to poke it.

Ramjet's absence was unusual given that his two Trine members, Thrust and Dirge were here, staring out from beneath their domed heads. The fact that he could see nothing of the Elite Trine was more worrying still.

Were they commanding this mass data collection group from some hidden area?

As though to answer Shockwave's question, a long, eerie scream suddenly echoed down the corridor, rising and falling in pitch like some feral wolf howl.

The Seekers all lost interest in the intruder and turned in the direction of the call with their wings up, waiting for just a second before, as one, they all fled the area and vanished into the darkness beyond the droid's field of vision.

Off Shockwave went in pursuit, following the direction of the hallway until finally reaching the large door at the very end where, logically speaking, the Seekers must be hiding themselves away in.

 _Of course_ , Shockwave hummed to himself, _where else would they keep themselves?_

Starscream's quarters were large enough to comfortably house all of them so why would they need to go anywhere else?

Now that Shockwave was closer, he could hear a rhythmic metallic banging going on, a steady _POUND! ... POUND! ... POUND!_ against something that was also metal. As the droid carefully approached the open door of Starscream's room, Red Wing suddenly appeared from nowhere, leaping over the camera and scuttling into the room.

Inside, Shockwave stopped and felt panic stream through every single system he had in his body.

The Elite Trine were presiding over the room on two legs while the rest of the Seeker team were crouched on spring-locked knees, waiting in silence.

Ramjet was with them. His mutation had been in his armour - it contained an additional chemical material that strengthened it to be virtually indestructible around his head and shoulders - which meant that Ramjet lived up to his name by being able to safely ram into other aircraft without fear of damaging himself.

At the moment, it appeared that the Seekers were putting him to work because the source of the metallic banging could now be identified; Ramjet had been throwing himself against the wall for Primus knew how long and the call from Starscream had been to say that they were almost through.

The leader of the Seekers turned steely red eyes towards the droid, smiling at the Decepticon who was hiding behind it who knew there was nothing he could do about their inevitable escape.

Cursing and swearing, Shockwave abandoned his computer console and warmed up his gun, unlocking the door and running out into the Nemesis. Even if the other Seekers were to flee, he HAD to keep Starscream here; Megatron would mince him if he found out he'd lost his First Lieutenant! If Starscream were still here then the other Seekers would eventually return, such was their nature.

Twisting and turning down the labyrinth of hallways, Shockwave skidded to a stop just shy of the threshold of Starscream's quarters and, finding them completely empty and incredible draughty from the gaping hole that Ramjet had punched through the wall, swore very loudly.

* * *

" _So, in summary_ ," Shockwave sheepishly reported, " _they're out there somewhere. But the good news is that they're now able to fly so after enough time has passed, they'll gradually get back to normal_."

"How long?"

" _Until they're normal? It all comes down how long they've been grounded - which is approximately... 40 earth turns_."

"40 days!?" Megatron cried, drawing attention to himself as the Autobots and Stunticons turned in his direction. He smiled and then lowered his voice. "We can't wait that long!" he hissed into the comms, "The Quintessons will have arrived by then!"

"... _I don't know what to suggest, my Lord_."

"I need them back, Shockwave," Megatron groaned, rubbing his face, "Do you understand me?"

" _Sir_ ," Shockwave warned him, " _they're aggressive and territorial and incredibly dangerous to_ -"

"They're aggressive and what?"

" _What_?"

"Yes, aggressive and what?"

" _Um... incredibly dangerous_."

"Territorial?"

" _Exactly what I meant. Yes, they're territorial_."

The cogs in Megatron's mind began to click and crank as a plan started to form.

"...Stand by, Shockwave, until I contact you again." Closing the communication channel, Megatron turned back to Optimus with a scheming expression on his face. "I believe I have the beginnings of a plan," he announced, "I just need a little assistance in tracking down some rogue jet planes."


	8. Eight Chapters Eight Humans

**Writer's Note - Hey everyone! Apologies for such a delay in updating but the current Internet situation is driving me crazy! Thank you for being so patient!**

* * *

The doors swished open and the same Quintesson general came slithering through with a thoroughly bored expression on his face.

"Aw heck, are we not there yet?"

"Honestly, Krahulik," Vashik replied, "I'm not sure I can keep coming up with different answers to the same question you ask every time you wiggle onto the bridge."

"...Is that a 'no'?"

"We're nearly there, okay? We're NEARLY there!" Vashik told him crossly, as though he were dealing with an irritating child in the back seat which, actually, he was, "See? We've passed this massive thing here, Jupe... Jupiter. These planets all have weird names. Anyway, we've passed that one and the next one is... M-... Ma-... Maaarzz? Mars?"

"I gave up with these stupid planets," Krahulik shrugged, leaning his head against the glass window and staring out at space, "None of them have sensible names."

"Well, Mars is next and THEN it's Earth. So just shut up, would you?"

The computer started to bark at them at that moment.

" _Krahulik? Vashik? Could one of you answer me?_ "

Krahulik and Vashik looked at each other and quickly enacted the Quintesson version of Rock-Paper-Scissors which Krahulik lost.

"Punctual as ever, Ghyrik," he answered the comms, "If it's an update you want, we've got to reach Mars first and then Earth is after that one so you'll be happy to know we're on time!"

" _Wow,_ " came Ghyrik's drawling, sarcastic tones, " _Keep that competence up and you might just get a mention in the Employee Newsletter this year. But before you start thinking highly of yourself, you ARE aware of our agreed arrangement, aren't you? I get to transport Octopus Prime and Megaphone on my ship._ "

Krahulik puckered his lips and stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "...Are you referring to... Did you mean 'Optimus Prime' and 'Megatron'?"

" _That's what I said_."

"I thought the agreement was we'd get one each?"

There was a long and exasperated sigh on the other end of the comm link. " _I knew you weren't listening when we both agreed on that. There goes your mention in the Employee Newsletter."_

"Wha-?"

" _Never mind. Just make sure you've got everyone on that ship of yours ready by the time we get there. I don't want to look unprofessional in front of the kids._ " He then rang off.

Vashik folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at the console while the Allicons tried to look as though they hadn't been listening and were poking at the computers half-heartedly.

For a few minutes, neither Krahulik or Vashik said anything.

"Vashik," Krahulik then murmured, "I think it's obvious what we have to do now, isn't it?"

"Make sure we're transporting at least one of the leaders on the _Paradigm_?"

"Glad you're on the same page as me."

Vashik nodded and faced forward with a determined expression before his face fell and he glanced sideways at his colleague. "...I...I take it that it'll be obvious who the leaders are when we get there, right?" he squeaked quietly as Krahulik stared at him in amazement. "...See, I...can't quite remember what Optimus and Megatron look like..."

"You're having a laugh, aren't you?" Krahulik replied, "Are you seriously telling me that you have no idea what the leader of the Autobots and the leader of the Decepticons look like?"

"...Well, in my defence, I haven't exactly seen them in a while. They never call, they never write... They never send a card on Father's Day..."

"Look, Megatron is..." Krahulik paused, trying to remember, "...is the... mega one and Optimus Prime is the...optimistic looking one."

"That so? What colours are they?"

"One's a sort of... Well, they both have silver on them..."

"Yeah, them and just about every other Cybertronian."

"You'll know them when you see them, Vashik. Sheesh!"

"Don't we have files on them somewhere?"

"Yes we do!" Krahulik leapt at the computer and quickly flashed up two images. "See? Don't know why you're getting so worked up about this. It's pretty straightforward, don't you think?"

"...So Megatron is predominantly grey fella with a giant fusion cannon on his arm and Optimus Prime is the blue and red one which somehow makes you feel as though you want to confess all your sins to him and then apologise for letting him down."

"Right," Krahulik nodded, pleased with himself, "Shouldn't be too hard finding them then, eh?"

* * *

For the past two minutes, Jazz had been hovering outside the door with a pained look on his face, trying to go over what he was going to say in his head but not being able to find an easier way of saying it. He could only hope that the news would be taken well.

He was big bot now. He could handle this.

"Yo, Bumblebee?" Jazz called softly, tapping at the door, "You in there?" The doors opened and when Jazz poked his head in, he saw the small yellow Autobot knelt on the floor beside his Ark model with his various human pets crowded around him and sitting on him. Each of them looked up at Jazz as he came inside and a couple of them even waved at him which elicited a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

"Hey Jazz!" Bumblebee smiled, holding his hands protectively in his lap, "Hey, look! Look at little Daniel! I'm holding him real carefully." In Bumblebee's hands, snuggled between his digits, was a swaddled baby sucking on his own fist and squeaking. It was only half the size of Bumblebee's finger and Bumblebee's fingers were nowhere near as long as the other Autobots'.

"Wow," Jazz commented, "Ya make sure you don't lose him, he's so tiny. Primus knows we lost _you_ more than once when you were small enough to sit in my hand."

"I won't lose him," Bumblebee said, smiling as Sari tried sliding down his arm into Sam's waiting arms. "Does Optimus want to see me?" he then asked.

"Not exactly..." Jazz swallowed, "I just came by to..." He then stopped and did a quick double-check of the little organics that were huddled around Bumblebee's feet like mother-less chicks. "Bee, why am I countin' eight humans right now?"

The scout diverted his optics and briefly looked down to where his two newest humans were sat together, the smaller one cuddling the larger one as they perched on the edge of Bumblebee's knee. "Uh... Oh, they followed me here. That's Denny and that's Russel. See, Russel and Raf get on really well..."

"Bee, ya can't..." Then Jazz stopped and sighed, not really wanting to get into another discussion, "Look, I jus' came by to let you know that we might have to move the Ark."

With a humorous frown (because Bumblebee still had that 'baby-face' syndrome which made his cross expressions look cute), the yellow scout looked up at the Autobot SIC. "Huh?"

"Optimus is gonna take the Ark over towards the Decepticons."

"Why?"

"We're..." Jazz faltered for words, "...teamin' up." Bumblebee stared at Jazz, frozen in place. "Yeah, I know, it sucks but you remember those Quintesson guys that're comin' our way?" Bee nodded. "Optimus an' Megatron reckon it'd be best to join forces until we get rid of them."

The humans, sensitive to Bumblebee's emotions, began to stop their playing and slowly congregated in Bumblebee's hand with Daniel, holding onto him gently and murmuring comforting sounds. Bumblebee gazed down at them, trying to put things together in his mind.

"...I'm not allowed to talk to Decepticons," he said quietly.

"Yeah, I know, but this is different," Jazz told him, settling down beside Bee and cautiously holding out a finger to the nearest human, Carly, who rested her paw on it and rubbed it gently. "We're on the same side now for a little bit. So we're just gonna put the ol' Ark over a little closer to the Cons so we can work together a little more easier, okay?"

"...What about these guys?" Bumblebee asked, nodding down into his hands where the humans were sitting, listening attentively as though they could understand everything.

Jazz took a breath and cursed the fact that he had been asked to deliver this news due to his good bed-side manner.

"Well," Jazz whispered, "that's...that's what I came to talk to you about, kid. Uh... Ya know, you take care of them so well. Like, really well. Optimus has been very pleased with how good you are at handlin' responsibility like this. But the thing is... Bumblebee... Ya might, uh, have to..."

"To hide them out of sight and keep my eye on them even more," Bumblebee nodded firmly, "You got it, Jazz! Tell Optimus not to worry about it - those Decepticons won't know they're here! Besides, why would Megatron wanna come in MY room, right?"

He had missed the point.

"...Bee," Jazz said in a low voice, "you know that's not what I was gonna say."

"What, I can't keep them in my room?" Bee groaned, "I know Optimus might want them in a safer place but they won't like being cooped up in a cage somewhere. They're happier here."

Jazz pulled his finger back away from Carly and he scratched his chin hesitantly, "Ya sure they wouldn't be happier... back where they belong? In the wild?"

A long silence passed in Bumblebee's room which gave baby Daniel time to start whimpering and fussing. Spike picked him up from his cosy spot between Bee's fingers and began to rock him.

Bumblebee watched him for a moment and then shook his head. "...Nah. Daniel was born here. This is their territory now and I don't want to disturb Carly while she's still nesting. The others are all settled here anyway. It would be too distressing to move them."

"Distressin' for who?" Jazz asked with a sigh, leaning on his fist and looking at Bumblebee with a soft expression, "Them or you?"

"Humans are very rooted in their homes, Jazz," Bumblebee explained matter-of-factly, "Once they've settled, you shouldn't shift them 'cause they won't like it."

"Yeah but..."

"And they know me. We've pack-bonded. I think they've accepted me as one of their own. I'm their special guardian and they trust me." He smiled at Jazz and nodded at him. "Don't worry, Jazz. I'll keep out of Megatron's way and stay here looking after everyone."

Jazz clasped his hands together, ventilated his airways and looked up.

"...Megatron... actually wants to see you."

He could feel Bumblebee's optics boring into the side of his head and when he looked back at him, they were enormously round, filling up a good half of his face as he froze for the second time. The humans shifted uncomfortably and Raf made a whimper as he held his hands to Bumblebee's chest, feeling the agitated spark thumping away.

Bee gulped and finally managed to reboot his vocal processors. "...Can't," he chirped in a faintly strangled tone of voice, "I have a note."

"Bee..."

"I have a note. Not allowed to see Megatron."

"Optimus will be there too..."

"I have a note," Bumblebee insisted, "I have to stay and look after my humans."

"What, all _eight_ of them?"

"...Yes."

"So ya don't want a REALLY important Autobot job that Optimus Prime told Megatron you could do because you're our best scout?" Jazz smiled encouragingly, almost chuckling when Bumblebee's scared face morphed into one of excitement.

"You didn't say it was for a job!"

"Feelin' up to it?"

"Yeah!" Jazz then looked serious again. "So about yer humans?" he prompted.

Bumblebee looked back down at them solemnly, closing his optics in a peaceful, almost serene way.

"...You're right," he sighed, closing his fingers around his brood, "I...I can't stay and look after them."

Jazz put a sympathetic hand on Bumblebee's shoulder, understanding that the young bot who had grown to love these small organics as his own was probably crushed at the thought of saying goodbye to them. Just like Optimus Prime would have been heartbroken had Ratchet put his foot down and said 'no you absolutely cannot adopt a small Sparkling during the middle of a Civil War'. It was going to be hard for him to accept but Jazz was confident that their youngster would pull through and be grown up enough to make this decision.

Bumblebee's blue optics turned to Jazz. " _You'll_ have to take care of them."

* * *

One by one, Decepticons found their conversations drying up and their focus dramatically diverted when the first Autobot, Hot Rod, appeared in the doorway with his hands at his sides.

The younger bot, proudly displaying his striking racing flames, glowered at the collection of low-level Decepticon grunts that were crowding the lobby of Megatron's fortress, daring any of them to even look at him in a way he didn't like. The silence was uncomfortable as some of the less hearty of the grunts took their energon (served in the Cybertronian equivalent of those rubbish plastic cups that you get a water cooler) and shifted further away from the doors or positioned themselves behind more battle-ready colleagues for fear that an inevitable fight might break out sooner rather than later.

"You'd think," Hot Rod murmured in a voice that was only just loud enough for the closest to hear, "that after all this time, the 'Cons would have tried making themselves look a little more attractive."

"Wouldn't wager any energon on that," answered the baritone voice of Ultra Magnus, looking very 'ultra' indeed as he took up most of the doorframe. He and Hot Rod stood and surveyed the audience for a little longer but it was apparent that none of them were planning on putting any effort into moving.

"So then..." Hot Rod 'coughed', "You all gonna stand there and look gormless?" There wasn't any among the Deceptcons who answered him. "...Tough crowd. Well, beep beep monkey wrenches, you can step aside or get stepped on." He pushed forward and managed to encourage a slightly smaller Decepticon to beat a retreat so that a pathway was beginning to emerge through the crowd.

"That's it," Hot Rod nodded as more Cons stepped aside, "You fellas know we aren't liking this any more than you are. And I swear - if I feel any of your cold slimy fingers on me, I'll tear them off and feed them to the Dinobots."

"Just keep walking Autobots," a snarl from a Decepticon finally responded, "and keep your comments to yourself."

The Con in question very nearly leaked oil when Ultra Magnus came striding up.

"Very tough crowd," he noted.

* * *

Megatron beamed at the little Autobot. "I forgot how utterly adorable your youngster was."

"He's our _scout,_ " Optimus firmly corrected, "so a little respect, if you don't mind? We ARE putting aside a Civil War to fight an invading army so a little professionalism wouldn't kill you, would it?" He straightened up and then added in a very quiet voice, "...But you're right - he's cute."

"Sir?" Bumblebee said, standing to attention in front of the Prime and throwing a smart salute that he had practised over the years, "You wanted to see me?"

Megatron gripped his fists and smiled before clearing his throat and remembering the fact that he was a strong and terrifying Decepticon tyrant. "Well," he said in a booming voice, "I've been told-"

"Oh, sorry, was I supposed to report to you?" Bumblebee had said it so innocently and genuinely that a Decepticon could have mistaken it for being an honest question but Megatron couldn't help but search for the cheeky tone in the scout's voice.

Optimus bit back a proud smile and hid behind his mask, pretending he had an itchy nose.

"...He's yours all right..." Megatron muttered.

"Bumblebee," Optimus began, "the task we need you to carry out involves the Seekers and as the Seekers are under Megatron's authority..."

"You're going to have to learn to take orders from me, is what he's trying to say," Megatron chipped in, smiling again.

Bumblebee looked at Optimus worriedly. "...You want me to fight a Seeker!?"

"No!" Optimus replied.

"Maybe," Megatron contradicted.

"No." Optimus elbowed Megatron warningly and put on a cheerful face for the sake of the scout. "Megatron has been a bit of a lugnut and doesn't know-"

"Hey, hey, hey! No, that's not it!" Megatron stomped his foot. "The Seekers have escaped. I know exactly- Okay, I _don't_ know where exactly they are but that doesn't mean- ...They just escaped, okay? And the big problem we have is that we need them. Now, what we could do is wait here with our engines idling until, in about 40 days, they decide to come flying back with their wingflaps tucked between their legs but we're expecting a large and unwelcome delivery from Quintessa in about _30_ days which, when you do the math, means that by the time Starscream and Co. are feeling better, it'll be too late."

"That's about as much as you've told me, Megatron. What exactly is your solution?" asked Optimus.

"Because who's to say we can't hold them off for 10 days until the Seekers come back," Bumblebee nodded, "Do we _actually_ need them?"

Megatron smirked. "Your Aerialbots can provide decent aerial cover, I'm sure," he said, "They aren't exactly in the same league as my Seekers, of course, but-"

"But I can take my Aerialbots, which can _combine_ , by the way, and just leave," Optimus shrugged and went to stand beside Bumblebee.

"Fine," Megatron huffed childishly, turning his back. "My plan doesn't need your Aerialbots anyway."

Bumblebee looked between the two leaders in a slightly puzzled manner. "Why am I here, again?" he asked and felt Optimus' hand on his shoulder.

"Well, you're _not_ here to listen to Megatron insulting us. Come on, Bumblebee, let's-"

"Wait!" Megatron called after them as they began to walk towards the door.

Bumblebee glanced back and found the Decepticon leader watching him with a critical red eye.

"...I hear you're good," Megatron said quietly, addressing the smaller bot. "At scouting, I mean. I hear you're a good scout."

Bumblebee looked up at Optimus who winked back at him with a fond expression on his face, giving the little scout permission to address the Decepticon.

"I... do my best," Bee answered in a wavering tone.

Megatron looked away. "You were the kid that broke into my underground bunker one time, managed to take pictures of my schematics, recorded a conversation between Shockwave and myself, planted a virus on Soundwave's computer, graffitied the Autobot insignia on one of my Vehicons and made off with three casks of energon."

The little yellow Autobot lifted his face to grin mischievously at his Prime. "In under 20 minutes!" he couldn't help but add proudly and then, at seeing Megatron's stern face, hurriedly wiped the mischief away. "...Sorry. That wasn't very nice of me. What were you saying?"

"...You... have... impressive... skills." It sounded as though Megatron was trying to compliment him through gritted dentures and Bumblebee genuinely wasn't sure he heard correctly.

"Pardon?"

"I want you to find the Seekers for me," Megatron told him in a louder, crosser voice. "Don't engage them or interfere with what they're doing just... locate them for me. Starscream in particular. If not the others, I want to know where _he_ is."

"So, just to make it clear - I'm not _fighting_ Starscream."

"No." Megatron glared at Optimus. "Does that pacify you?" Optimus was smiling again and he nodded gracefully. "Good. Barricade?"

From the corner of the room hurried forward a black and grey Decepticon with a narrow face and pinched optics. He was obviously older than Bumblebee but was only a few meters taller than him as he came and stood next to his leader, giving Bumblebee a funny look as he seemed to size the Autobot up.

"Barricade will be joining you," Megatron explained, amused by the childish behaviour.

Optimus didn't appear happy.

"I didn't agree to that!" he complained and batted away the patronising hand that Megatron put out to wave away the Prime's worries.

"Relax. Barricade is MY scout," Megatron said, "I can't trust such an important mission to an Autobot alone. It's all a matter of trust. You understand, surely."

Optimus looked down at the smaller Decepticon with a stern glare. "Just so you understand that the minute Barricade steps out of line, I'll be there in an instant," he warned, "I've got direct tabs on Bumblebee's vital statistics and status - the moment something seems amiss, I'll be getting in touch."

Barricade winced and straightened his back involuntarily at the sound of the Prime's voice. There was no mistaking the authority and power behind it.

"Uh...Sure thing, pal," Barricade nodded nervously.

"Good," Megatron smiled and clapped his hands, "Now then, scouts - go find my Seekers."


End file.
